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STORIES ABOUT 
FAMOUS PRECIOUS STONES 



BY 

I 



MRS. GODDARD ORPEN 



ILLUSTRATED 




B 

D LOTHROP COMPANY 

WASHINGTON STREET OPPOSITE BROMFIELD 



Copyright, 1890, 

BY 

D. Lothrop Company. 









CONTENTS. 





I. 




THE REGENT 


II. 


• 


THE ORLOFF . 


III. 




LA PELEGRINA 


• • 

IV. 


• » 


„,THE KOH-I-NUR . 


V. 


• • 


THE FRENCH BLUE 


• • 

VI. 


• • 


THE BRAGANZA 


VII. 


• • 


THE BLACK PRINCE'S 


RUBY . 

5 


• 



37 



59 



79 



in 



131 



149 



6 CONTENTS. 

VIII. 
THE SANCI 177 

IX. 
THE GREAT MOGUL .... 198 

X. 

THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW . . . 2l8 

XI. 
A FAMOUS NECKLACE .... 238 

XII. 

the tara brooch and the shrine of 

st. Patrick's bell . . . 262 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

"The Regent 14 

- The Orloff ,40 

The Koh-i-Nur 83 

Koh-i-Nur, as recut 95 

Tavernier's Blue Diamond . . . . . 118) 

The " Hope Blue " Diamond . . . . 119 

"Brunswick" Blue Diamond .... 3:23 

"Hope Blue" Diamond, as mounted . . . 126 

The Crown of England l 7J*S 

The Sanci 183 

The Great Mogul 209 

The Austrian Yellow 220 

Diamond in the rough ...... 229 

Diamond after cutting 232 

" The Necklace of History " 243 

The Tara Brooch 265 

St. Patrick's Bell 279 



STORIES ABOUT 
FAMOUS PRECIOUS STONES 



THE REGENT. 



OF all the gems which have served to 
adorn a crown or deck a beauty the 
Regent has perhaps had the most remarkable 
career. Bought, sold, stolen and lost, it has 
passed through many hands, always however 
leaving some mark of its passage, so that the 
historian can follow its devious course with 
some certainty. From its extraordinary size it 
has been impossible to confound it with any 
other diamond in the world ; hence the absence 
of those conflicting statements with regard to it 
which puzzle one at every turn in the cases of 
certain other historical jewels. 
9 



IO THE REGENT. 

The first authentic appearance of this dia- 
mond in history was in December, 1701. In 
that month it was offered for sale by a diamond 
merchant named Jamchund to the Governor of 
Fort St. George near Madras, Mr. Thomas Pitt, 
the grandfather of the great Earl of Chatham. 

Although, as we shall see later on, the dia- 
mond came fairly into the hands of Mr. Pitt, it 
had already a taint of blood upon it. I allude 
to the nebulous and gloomy story that has 
drifted down to us along with this sparkling 
gem. How far the story is true it is now im- 
possible to ascertain. The Regent itself alone 
could throw any light upon the subject, and 
that, notwithstanding its myriad rays, it refuses 
to do. 

Tradition says the stone was found by a slave 
at Partreal, a hundred and fifty miles south of 
Golconda. The native princes who worked 
these diamond mines were very particular to 
see that all the large gems should be reserved 
to deck their own swarthy persons ; hence there 



THE REGENT. II 

were most stringent regulations for the detec- 
tion of theft. No person who was not above 
suspicion — and who indeed was ever above the 
suspicion of an absolute Asiatic prince? — 
might leave the mines without being thoroughly 
examined, inside and out, by means of purga- 
tives, emetics and the like. Notwithstanding 
all these precautions however, the Regent was 
concealed in a wound made in the calf of the 
leg of a slave. The inspectors, I suppose, did 
not probe the wound deeply enough, for the slave 
got away safely with his prize and reached 
Madras. Alas ! poor wretch, it was an evil day 
for him when he found the great rough diamond. 
On seeking out a purchaser he met with an 
English skipper who offered him a considerable 
sum for it ; but on going to the ship, perhaps 
to get his money, he was slain and thrown over- 
board. The skipper then sold the stone to 
Jamchund for one thousand pounds ($5000), 
took to drink and speedily succumbing to the 
combined effects of an evil conscience and de- 



12 THE REGENT. 

lirium tremens hanged himself. Thus twice 
baptized in blood the great diamond was fairly 
launched upon its life of adventure. 

And now we come to the authentic part of its 
history. 

Mr. Pitt has left a solemn document under 
his own hand and seal recounting his mercan- 
tile encounter with the Eastern Jamchund. It 
would appear from this notable writing that Mr. 
Pitt himself had been accused of stealing the 
diamond, for he begins with lamentations over 
the " most unparalleled villainy of William 
Fraser Thomas Frederick and Smapa, a black 
merchant," who it would seem had sent a paper 
to Governor Addison (Mr. Pitt's successor in 
Madras) intimating that Mr. Pitt had come un- 
fairly by his treasure. The writer then calls 
down God to witness to his truthfulness and 
invokes His curse upon himself and his children 
should he here tell a lie. 

After this solemn preamble, Mr. Pitt goes on 
minutely to describe his transaction with the 



THE REGENT. 1 3 

diamond merchant; how in the end of 1701 
Jamchund, in company with one Vincaty Chittee, 
called upon him in order to effect the sale of a 
very large diamond. Mr. Pitt, who seems to 
have been himself a very considerable trader in 
precious stones, was appalled at the sum, two 
hundred thousand pagodas ($400,000), asked 
for this diamond. He accordingly offered thirty 
thousand pagodas ; but Jamchund went away 
unable to sacrifice his pebble for such a sum. 
They haggled over the matter for two months, 
meeting several times in the interval. The 
Indian merchant made use of the classical ex- 
pressions of his trade, as, for example, that it 
was only to Mr. Pitt that he would sell it for so 
insignificant a sum as a hundred thousand 
pagodas. But all this was of no avail and 
they consequently parted again without having 
effected a bargain. 

Finally Jamchund having resolved to go back 
into his own country once more presented him- 
self, always attended by the faithful Vincaty 



14 THE REGENT. 

Chittee, before the Governor, and offered his 
stone now for fifty thousand pagodas. Pitt 
then offered forty-five thousand, thinking that 
"if good it must prove a pennyworth." Then 
Jamchund fell a thousand and Pitt rose a thou- 
sand. Now the bargain seemed pretty near 
conclusion ; but it often happens that hucksters 




the regent: top and side views. 

who have risen or fallen by pounds come to 
grief at the last moment over the pence that 
still separate them, so these two seemed unable 
to move further towards a settlement. Mr. Pitt 
went into his closet to a Mr. Benyon and had 
a chat over it with that gentleman who appears 
to have advised him to the purchase, remarking 



THE REGENT. 1 5 

that a stone which was worth forty-seven thou- 
sand pagodas was surely worth forty-eight. 
Convinced by this reasoning the Governor went 
again to Jamchund and at last closed the bar- 
gain at forty-eight thousand pagodas ($96,000). 
It was a lucky moment for him, since it was 
upon this minute but adamantine corner-stone 
that the Governor of Fort St. George began to 
build up the fortunes of the great house of Pitt. 
The diamond, valued far below its price in 
order not to attract attention, was sent home to 
England and lodged with bankers until Mr. 
Pitt's return from India, when he had it cut 
and polished. This process, the most critical 
one in the life of a diamond, was performed in 
an eminently satisfactory manner. The rough 
stone, which had weighed four hundred and ten 
Carats, came forth from the hands of the cutter 
a pure and flawless brilliant of unparalleled 
lustre weighing one hundred and thirty-six and 
three fourths carats. It took two years to cut 
it, and the cost of the operation was ten thou- 



1 6 THE REGENT. 

sand dollars ; but its lucky owner had no reason 
to complain, since he sold the dust and frag- 
ments for no less than forty thousand dollars 
and still had the largest diamond in the world 
to dispose of. 

This, however, proved to be no easy matter, 
for though many coveted it few persons were 
ready to give Mr. Pitt's price for it. One pri- 
vate individual did indeed offer four hundred 
thousand dollars, but he was not listened to. 
The fame of this wonderful stone soon spread 
over Europe. In 17 10 an inquisitive German 
traveler, one Uffenbach, made " a wonderful 
journey" into England and tried to get a sight 
of it. But by this time Mr. Pitt and his dia- 
mond were so renowned a couple that the former 
must have been a most miserable person. The 
German tells us how it was impossible to see 
the stone, for Mr. Pitt never slept twice in the 
same house and was constantly changing his 
name when he came to town. Indeed his life 
was one of haunting terror lest he should be 



THE REGENT. 1 7 

murdered for his jewel as the hapless slave had 
been in the very outset of its career. 

At last, in 1717, he was relieved from his 
troubles. He sold the stone to the King: of 
France, having in vain offered it to the other 
monarchs of Europe. The Duke of Saint Simon 
minutely chronicles the whole transaction. The 
model of the diamond, which was then known 
as the *'Pitt," was brought to him by the famous 
Scotch financier, Law. At this time the Duke 
of Orleans ruled in France as regent for the 
boy who was afterwards to be Louis xv. The 
state of the French finances was well-nigh des- 
perate. The people were starving, the national 
credit was nil, and the exchequer was almost if 
not quite empty. Nothing dismayed, however, 
by the dark outlook, that accomplished courtier, 
the Duke of Saint Simon, set himself to work 
upon the feelings of the Regent until he should 
be persuaded to buy this unique gem. When 
the Regent feebly urged the want of money the 
Duke was ready with a plan for borrowing and 



1 8 THE REGENT. 

pledging other jewels of the crown until the 
debt should be paid. 

he Regent feared to be blamed for expend- 
ing so extravagant a sum as two millions of 
money on a mere bauble ; but the Duke in- 
stantly pointed out to him that what was right 
in an individual was inexpedient in a king, and 
what would be lavish extravagance in the one 
would in the other be but due regard for the 
dignity of the crown and the glory of the nation. 
In short says the courtier in his entertaining 
Memoirs, "I never let Monsieur d'Orleans alone 
until I had obtained that he would purchase this 
stone." To such successful issue was his im- 
portunity brought. The financier Law did not 
let the great diamond pass through his hands 
without leaving some very substantial token of 
its passage. He seems to have received forty 
thousand dollars for his share in the negotia- 
tion. 

It is instructive to learn that the Regent's 
fear of being blamed for the purchase was en- 



THE REGENT. 19 

tirely groundless. On the contrary he received 
the applause of the nation for his spirited acqui- 
sition of a gem the price of which had terrified 
all the other monarchs of Europe; whereupon 
the Duke of Saint Simon remarks with compla- 
cency that much of the credit was due to him 
for having introduced the diamond to court. 
The sum actually paid to Mr. Pitt appears to 
have been one hundred and thirty-five thousand 
pounds sterling, equivalent to eight hundred and 
seventy-five thousand dollars, and the diamond 
received its name of Regent in compliment to 
the Duke of Orleans. 

The Regent now enters upon a long period of 
tranquillity, nothing conspicuous happening to 
it for many years. It pursued its way quietly 
as a royal gem during the reign of Louis xv., 
adding its lustre to the brilliant but dissolute 
court of that monarch. After a lapse of nearly 
sixty years the Regent again came forward upon 
a stately occasion in order to fitly decorate a 
king of France. It was on the eleventh of June, 



2 o THE REGENT. 

1775, that the unfortunate youth Louis xvi. was 
crowned king in the ancient cathedral town of 
Rheims. A new crown of especial splendor was 
made for the new king and in it were incorpo- 
rated nearly all the royal jewels. The top of 
the diadem was ornamented by fleurs-de-lys 
made of precious stones. In the centre of the 
principal one blazed the Regent, flanked right 
and left by the "Sanci" and the "Gros Mazarin," 
while round about sparkled a thousand dia- 
monds of lesser magnitude. Louis's gorgeous 
head-gear was no less than nine inches high, 
and it is said that the King, made dizzy by the 
immense weight of it, put up his hand several 
times to ease his poor head. At last he said 
peevishly " It hurts me " ; simple, thoughtless 
words to which after-events have given a sad 
and most fateful significance. 

One of the actors in this magnificent pageant 
was the King's youngest brother, the Count 
d'Artois, a handsome youth of such exquisite 
courtliness of manner that he obtained and 



THE REGENT. 21 

kept through life the title of the Vrai Chevalier. 
We shall meet him again in still closer proximity 
to the Regent, fifty long years hence. 

During the troubled reign of Louis xvi. the 
crown jewels including the Regent were lodged 
in the Garde Meuble where upon stated days 
they were exposed to public view. On the 
famous tenth of August, 1792, when Louis was 
deprived of his crown he was also relieved from 
the burden of looking after the Regent. It had 
at once become the National Diamond and as 
such belonged to everybody, hence everybody 
had a right to see it. In compliance with this 
popular notion the Regent was deposed from its 
regal niche in the crown of France and was 
securely fastened in a steel clasp. A stout 
chain was attached to the clasp and padlocked 
inside an iron window. Thus secured from the 
too affectionate grip of its million owners the 
Regent used to be passed out through the win- 
dow and submitted to the admiration of all who 
asked to see it. As a further security police- 



22 THE REGENT. 

men and detectives were liberally scattered 
about the place in the interest of national 
probity. 

After the bloody days of the second and third 
of September when the ferocious mob of Paris 
broke into the prisons and massacred the un- 
fortunate inmates, the Government imagined 
that the people should no longer be trusted with 
the custody of the Regent. Accordingly they 
locked up all the crown jewels as securely as 
they could in the cupboards of the Garde Meu- 
ble and affixed the seals of the Commune most 
visibly thereto. Notwithstanding their precau- 
tions, however, the result does not seem to have 
justified their conclusions. On the seventeenth 
of the same month it fell to M. Roland, then 
Minister of the Interior, to make a grievous 
statement to the Assembly. He informed the 
deputies that in the course of the preceding 
night some desperate ruffians had broken into 
the Garde Meuble Nationale between two and 
three o'clock in the morning and had stolen 



THE REGENT. 23 

thence jewels to an enormous value. Two of 
these ruffians had been arrested, but unfortu- 
nately not those who had the large diamond 
and other national property secreted upon their 
persons. A patrol of ten men who were posted 
at the Convent des Feuillants had pursued the 
miscreants, but being less effectively armed 
than the robbers they were unable to capture 
them. 

The two thieves then in custody upon being 
questioned gave, of course, answers which 
aroused the suspicions of these easily inflamed 
patriots. It seemed certain — so at least argued 
Roland — that the robbery had been planned 
by persons belonging to the late dominant aris- 
tocratic party in order to supply themselves 
with money to be used in paying the foreign 
troops who were to subdue France and again 
reduce her to slavery. He then proceeded to 
deliver an impassioned address upon this fertile 
theme. Patriot deputies freely accused each 
other of being the authors of this crime. Dan- 



24 THE REGENT. 

ton was pointed at by one party, while he re- 
torted by naming Roland, minister as he was, 
as one who knew too much about it. 

It seems probable however that none except 
the thieves themselves were concerned in this 
astonishing robbery and that they were actuated 
by greed alone. The patriots only made use 
of it for party purposes to obtain their own ob- 
jects, just as they tried to utilize in the same 
way any uncommon natural phenomenon, such 
as comets, earthquakes or hail stones. 

A few days later an anonymous letter was 
received by the officials at the Commune stat- 
ing that if they searched in a spot most care- 
fully described in the Allee des Veuves of the 
Champs Elysees, they would find something to 
their advantage. They accordingly hunted at 
the place indicated and found the Regent and 
a valuable agate vase. All the rest of the booty, 
however, the thieves made off with after having 
thus eased their consciences of the weight of 
the great diamond. 



THE REGENT. 25 

We lose sight of the Regent in the black 
gloom that hangs over the Reign of Terror. 
There is however a persistent tradition, impos- 
sible now either to prove or disprove, that on 
the occasion of the marriage of Napoleon Bona- 
parte with Josephine Beauharnais in 1796 the 
former wore a most superb diamond in his 
sword hilt. Could this perchance have been 
the Regent? It is certainly difficult to imagine 
how Napoleon could have become possessed of 
the Regent at this date. Yet it is also difficult 
to imagine how the young man who was then 
an unknown and a poor general without an 
army although full of high expectations, could 
have become the owner of any diamond of such 
splendor as to attract the attention of at least 
two contemporary historians. It is just possible 
it may have been the peerless Regent already 
shedding its rays upon the blade of that sword 
destined to flash through Europe and to leave 
behind it so bloody a trail. 

However this may be, it is certainly a fact 



26 THE REGENT. 

that in 1800 Napoleon, then First Consal, 
pawned the Regent to the Berlin banker Tres- 
cow. With the money thus obtained he set 
out on that famous campaign beyond the Alps 
which ended at Marengo and which began his 
career of unexampled success. Thus once 
more the Regent may be said to have founded 
the fortune of a great house, but more aspiring 
in its second attempt it succeeded less effect- 
ually than in the case of Pitt. However in 
1804 the house of Bonaparte had not fallen 
upon its ruin and it is some idea of this fact 
that gives color to the extraordinary revelations 
of the man called " Baba." 

In 1805 several men were tried for having 
forged notes on the Bank of France, and one of 
them who went by the nickname of "Baba" 
made a full confession of how the forgeries 
were accomplished, and then, to the vast aston- 
ishment of the court, he delivered this theatri- 
cal speech : " This is not the first time that my 
avowals have been useful to society, and if I 



THE REGENT. 2*] 

am condemned I will implore the mercy of the 
Emperor. Without me Napoleon would not 
have been on the throne • to me is due the suc- 
cess at Marengo. I was one of the robbers of 
the Garde Meuble. I assisted my confederates 
to conceal the Regent diamond and other ob- 
jects in the Champs Elysees as keeping them 
would have betrayed us. On a promise that 
was given to me of pardon I revealed the 
secret ; the Regent was recovered and you are 
aware, gentlemen, that the magnificent diamond 
was pledged by the First Consul to the Bata- 
vian * government to procure the money which 
he so greatly needed." 

There must have been some truth in Baba's 
statement, or at least the Tribunal considered 
there was, for he was not sent with his com- 
panions to the galleys, but was confined in the 
Bicetre prison where he was known as "the 
man who stole the Regent." 

* Evidently a mistake on Baba's part, as the Regent was pawned 
to a banker in Berlin. 



28 THE REGENT. 

Napoleon did not set the Regent in his im- 
perial crown. Having redeemed it from the 
hands of Trescovv for three millions of livres he 
mounted it in the hilt of his state-sword. There 
was something very fitting in this bestowal of 
the diamond. That the great soldier who had 
carved out his way to the throne with his sword 
should use the famous stone to ornament that 
blade was eminently appropriate. The Emperor 
seems to have considered that the Regent, 
whose name he most properly did not alter, 
belonged to him in an especially personal man- 
ner. In his confidences with Las Casas when 
at St. Helena he particularly complains of the 
manner in which the Allies defrauded him of 
this diamond, saying that he had redeemed it 
out of the hands of the Jews for three millions 
of livres and therefore that it belonged to him 
in his private capacity. 

On the first of April, 1810, the Regent was 
called upon to add its glory to the gorgeous 
scene in the long gallery of the Louvre on the 



THE REGENT. 29 

occasion of the official marriage of Napoleon 
with Marie Louise. The Emperor who was 
very fond of splendid pageants was attired in 
the most magnificent apparel contained in the 
imperial wardrobes. But he seldom had the 
stoical patience demanded of those who pose 
as kings. He never could acquire the deliber- 
ate stateliness of Louis xiv. who was born and 
brought up within the narrow limits of regal 
etiquette. Indeed the Emperor was frequently- 
known to divest himself of his costly robes in a 
very expeditious manner going so far as actually 
to kick — unholy sacrilege ! — the imperial man- 
tle out of his way. On the day of his marriage 
with the Archduchess the Regent was used to 
decorate the cap of the bridegroom. Madame 
Durand, one of the ladies-in-waiting to the new 
Empress, has left an account of the ceremony 
in which occurs the following passage : — 

" He (Napoleon) found his black velvet cap, adorned 
with eight rows of diamonds and three white plumes 
fastened by a knot with the Regent blazing in the centre 



SO THE REGENT. 

of it, particularly troublesome. This splendid headgear 
was put on and taken off several times, and we tried 
many different ways of placing it before we succeeded." 

Like poor Louis xvi. at his coronation Napo- 
leon found that his sparkling top-hamper hurt 
him. 

There was little opportunity for the Regent 
to appear fittingly after this event, although no 
doubt it was present at that kingly gathering in 
Dresden in the spring of 1812, when Napoleon 
in the plenitude of his power was starting upon 
the Russian campaign. But in the crash of a 
falling throne the imperial diamond is lost to 
view. 

When Marie Louise escaped from Paris in 
18 1 4, flying before the advancing allies she took 
with her all the crown jewels, and specie to the 
amount of four millions. These valuables the 
fugitive Empress kept with her until she reached 
Orleans, where she was overtaken by M. Dudon 
a messenger from the newly-returned Bourbon 
king. This gentleman demanded and obtained 



THE REGENT. 3 1 

the restoration of the money and the jewels. 
Thus the Regent was forced to abandon the 
fallen dynasty and to return to Paris to embel- 
lish the cap of the new king. 

In the scrambling restoration of Louis xvm. 
it was impossible to have a coronation. Indeed 
the court of this returned Bourbon was of the 
quietest, being under the dominion of Madame 
d'Angouleme, an austere bigot, of a temper very 
different from that of her gay and pleasure- 
loving mother, Marie Antoinette. It was not 
until May, 1818, that there was anything like a 
fitting occasion for the Regent to appear. It 
was in that month the most delightful of all the 
months of the year in France, that the youthful 
bride of the Duke of Berri arrived from Naples. 
Louis xviii. resolved to have the young princess 
met in the forest of Fontainebleau, and thither 
accordingly the whole court migrated on the 
previous day. It was the king's wish that the 
meeting should take place in a tent pitched in 
the stately forest. Perhaps he dreaded the im- 



32 



THE REGENT. 



perial memories that still haunted the chateau, 
Napoleon's favorite residence where he had 
given his splendid hunting fetes. The king 
arrayed himself sumptuously in a velvet coat 
of royal blue embroidered with seed pearls, and 
the Regent was placed in the front of his kingly 
cap while his sword was decorated by the less 
brilliant Sanci diamond. Thus regally adorned 
the king, too fat and gouty to stand in a royal 
attitude, was majestically seated in his arm-chair 
where he was discovered by the youthful Caro- 
line when she tripped lightly into the tent. 

Charles x. was destined to enjoy the Regent 
but for a few brief years. Having succeeded 
to the throne on the death of his brother in 
September, 1824, he made his state entry into 
his capital in the first days of October. This 
Charles, now an old man, is the youthful Count 
d'Artois who figured at the coronation of Louis 
xvi. half a century before. Hardly was the 
late king: laid to his rest in the sombre vaults of 
St. Denis when his successor laid his hands 



THE REGENT. $$ 

upon the Regent. The grand diamond sparkled 
upon the hat of the elderly monarch when bow- 
ing and smiling he made his entry into Paris as 
King of France. He was very fond of display, 
the Vrai Chevalier of the olden time, and spent 
months devising the most perfect and complete 
of coronations. Everything was to be conducted 
according to the strict old court etiquette ; even 
the dresses of the ladies were designed from 
fashion plates of the time of Marie de Medicis. 
This was the last king of France crowned at 
Rheims, none but the elder Bourbons having 
dared to face the legitimate traditions of the 
sleepy old town. A crown splendidly garnished 
with diamonds was made especially for Charles 
who*was duly anointed. But it all availed not to 
keep him on his infirm throne. He abdicated 
in 1830 when at St. Cloud and proceeded with 
royal slowness to quit the kingdom. 

He retained however his hold over the crown 
jewels while relinquishing the crown itself, for 
he carried the Regent and all the rest of the 



34 THE UEGENT. 

diamonds off to Rambouillet. As soon as the 
municipal government in Paris became aware 
of this fact they sent two agents to receive the 
precious objects from the hands of the ex-king. 
But his dethroned majesty would not give them 
up, whereupon a column of six thousand troops 
marched upon Rambouillet, and Charles was 
convinced by the irresistible logic of their flash- 
ing bayonets. He surrendered the Regent and 
other gems which were instantly appropriated by 
his "good cousin of Orleans," Louis Philippe. 

He again in turn was obliged to fly and leave 
his diamonds behind ; so that the Regent was 
found by Louis Napoleon amongst the other 
treasures of the country when he laid hold of 
the vacant crown of France. The late Emperor 
had it set in the imperial diadem.* It is a thick, 
square-proportioned diamond about the size of 
a Claude plum with a very large top surface, 
technically the table, and it gives forth even in 

* It was shown to the world at large in the two French exhibitions, 
where, in 1867, the present writer had the gratification of beholding it. 



THE REGENT. 35 

daylight the most vivid rays. One authority on 
precious stones observes that the Regent is not 
cut to rule, being too thick for its size, but he 
quaintly remarks that such a diamond is above 
law. The Regent may do as it likes, but smaller 
stones should beware how they imitate pecu- 
liarities which in them would be called defects. 

On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War 
in 1870 the Regent and its glittering compan- 
ions in glory were safely lodged in a sea-girt 
fortress. But Napoleon never returned to re- 
deem them. 

From the day when this peerless diamond 
first came to France it has always been a sover- 
eign gem in the strictest sense of the term. It 
has never been used to adorn any one but the 
reigning monarch, and has never condescended 
to deck the brow of a woman. 

During the present Republic the Regent has 
dwelt somewhat in obscurity. It lies snugly 
put away along with the other crown jewels in 
the vaults of the Ministere des Finances. But 



36 THE REGENT. 

when the Chamber some two years since decreed 
that crown jewels should be sold by auction, 
they exempted the Regent. Republican France 
will not sell the Regent. This is a very re- 
markable fact, and would have eased the mind 
of the old Duke of Orleans could he have fore- 
seen it. This sparkling gem, which he dreaded 
to buy fearing the censure of his people, has 
now sunk so deeply into their affections that 
even after the final extinction of the race of 
Bourbons which it was bought to adorn, the same 
people, now being sovereign, cannot bring them- 
selves to part with it. 



II. 



THE ORLOFF. 

" Diamonds," says an old writer, " have ever been 
highly valued by princes. To a sovereign," he argues, 
" who can command the lives and property of his subjects 
by a word, the ordinary objects of human desire soon 
lose that stimulating interest which rarity of occurrence 
and difficulty of acquisition can alone keep. The gratifi- 
cation of the senses and of unrestricted sway soon palls 
upon the appetite, and War and Diamonds are the only 
objects that engross the attention ; the former because it 
is attended with some hazard and is the only kind of 
gambling in which the stake is sufficiently exciting to 
banish the ennui of an illiterate despot ; the latter be- 
cause the excessive rarity of large and at the same time 
perfect specimens of this gem supplies a perpetual object 
of desire while each new acquisition feeds the complacent 
vanity of the possessor," 

ACCORDING to this philosophy we should 
expect to find that the most despotic 
princes would be the most addicted to the vani- 
37 



38 THE ORLOFF. 

ties of War and Diamonds. Whether this con- 
clusion be true as regards war may be open to 
doubt. Russia, without contention, is the most 
despotic monarchy of Europe, and yet the one 
which can show the shortest list of wars. With 
regard to diamonds, however, the deduction 
holds in all its force. The Russian regalia is 
richer in precious stones than that of any other 
Asiatic country. Besides numberless sapphires, 
rubies and pearls it possesses an immense quan- 
tity of diamonds. 

This passion for gems which characterizes 
the Russians was early observable among them. 
It is no doubt an inherited Asiatic taste, brought 
with them from the steppes of Siberia and the 
plains of Thibet, just as they brought thence 
their high cheek-bones, their flat noses, their 
dull skins, and the strong tendency to long hair 
and flowing beards. 

As early as the time of Peter the Great the 
diamonds were a notable feature of the Russian 
crown. But it was in the reign of Catharine 11. 



THE ORLOFF. 



39 



that the most splendid gems which Russia now 

possesses were added to her treasures. First 

L 
and foremost stands the Orloff. With the excep- 
tion of the very dubious Braganza of Portugal 
the Orloff is the largest diamond in Europe. It 
outweighs the Regent by more than half a hun- 
dred carats, reaching as it does the astonishing 
weight of one hundred and ninety-three carats. 
The origin of this gem is absolutely lost and 
its early history is involved in obscurity and 
contradiction. It appears a stone of ancient 
date. It was known in India for generations 
before it was transferred to Europe. Three 
Fates — a slave, a ship captain, and a Jew — 
seem destined to preside over the advent of 
each great diamond into our Western world. 
Nor were they wanting in this instance — ex- 
cept that a soldier was substitute for the slave. 
The date, however, is not so easy to discover 
as the circumstances of its entrance into Euro- 
pean history. It was, at all events, at some 
time prior to 1776 that a grenadier belonging to 



4 o 



THE ORLOFF. 



the French army which garrisoned the French 
possessions of Pondicherry deserted from his 
flag and became a Hindoo. This conversion 
was not the result of deep inward conviction, 
but of far-sighted craft. The Frenchman had 
heard of the great Sringerl-matha, the most holy 
spot in all Mysore. 
This temple, situated 
on an island at the 
junction of the Cavery 
and the Coleroon, was 
one of four especially 
sanctified monasteries 




THE ORLOFF. 



founded in the eighth century by Sankaracarya. 
This man, a strict Brahmin, restored the glor- 
ies of the old religion somewhat dimmed by 
Buddhism, and planted a monastery in each 
of the four extremities of India to keep alive 
the faith of Brahma. The one at Srirangam 
was noted, and the resort of pilgrims. It con- 
sisted of seven distinct inclosures, many lofty 
towers, and a gilded cupola, besides which it 



THE ORLOFF. 41 

was furnished with a perfect undergrowth of 
dwellings for the many Brahmins who served at 
the altar. 

Now the object of the grenadier's metamor- 
phosis was that he might be received into these 
sacred precincts and become a priest of Brahma. 
And why ? Because Brahma had a diamond 
eye. As the French historian puts it, " the sol- 
dier had become enamored of the beautiful eyes 
of the deity." European heretics were not 
allowed to penetrate further than the fourth 
inclosure. If the grenadier was to gaze at the 
eye of the god it must be as a Hindoo. 

Being, then, externally a Hindoo, the French- 
man proceeded to gain the confidence, and 
even the admiration of the priests by the ex- 
traordinary fervor of his devotion. The ruse 
succeeded, and he was eventually appointed 
guardian of the innermost shrine. 

One night, on the occasion of a great storm, 
the Hindoo-grenadier believed the moment pro- 
pitious for his grand enterprise. Being alone 



42 THE ORLOFF. 

with the god he threw off his disguise, climbed 
up the statue, gouged out the Wonderful Eye, 
and made off with it to Trichinopoly. 

Here he was safe for the moment among the 
English troops encamped at that place. But 
soon he journeyed on to Madras in search of a 
purchaser for the Eye. He of course met an 
English sea-captain, the middle figure of the 
indispensable trio of Fates, and to him the 
grenadier sold the diamond for two thousand 
pounds ($10,000). After this the grenadier falls 
back into obscurity. 

The sea-captain went to London and there 
speedily fell in with the Jew, the third Fate. 
The name of this Fate was Khojeh Raphael, 
and his character was that of "a complete old 
scoundrel." He seems to have traveled all 
over Europe in his character of Jew and mer- 
chant and to have left a not altogether immacu- 
late record of himself. Khojeh Raphael paid 
twelve thousand pounds ($60,000) for the stone 
and then in his turn set about hunting up a pur- 



THE ORLOFF. 43 

chaser. But this proved no easy matter. The 
splendid Catharine of Russia, it is said, rejected 
it though fond of diamonds and not slow to 
spend money, because the price asked was too 
high for her. It remained for a subject to buy 
it and present it to her as a gift. This then 
is the history of the Orloff diamond in India 
according to the most trustworthy accounts. 

Having brought the diamond to Europe we 
no longer deal vaguely, but are instantly face to 
face with an exact date. 

" We learn from Amsterdam that Prince Orloff made 
but one day's stay in that city where he bought a very 
large brilliant for the Empress his sovereign, for which 
he paid to a Persian merchant the sum of 1,400,000 florins 
Dutch money." 

So says a gossipy letter dated January 2, 
1776; and as further we are informed of the 
value of the "florins Dutch money" in English 
pennies, we learn that the price paid to the 
"complete old scoundrel" of a Khojeh Raphael 
was one hundred thousand pounds ($500,000). 



44 THE ORLOFF. 

The Prince Orloff mentioned in the letter is no 
other than Gregory, the favorite of Catharine il, 
a man of such singular fortunes that a few words 
may well be spared to him. 

Orloff's grandfather first came into notice in 
an extraordinary manner. In 1698, when Peter 
the Great barely escaped assassination at the 
hands of his body-guard, the renowned Strelitz, 
he resolved to destroy the corps altogether. 
This he performed effectually by cutting off 
their heads by scores and hundreds. The Czar 
aided in this bloody work with his own hand 
and decapitated many of his mutinous soldiers 
on a big log of wood. One young fellow, Jan 
nicknamed Orell (eagle), annoyed at finding 
the severed head of a comrade exactly in the 
spot where he had decided to lay his own neck, 
kicked it aside with the remark, " If this is my 
place I want more room." The Czar, delighted 
with the congenial brutality of the observation, 
pardoned the soldier and gave him a post in his 
new regiment of guards. 



THE ORLOFF. 45 

Slightly altering his nickname "Orell" into 
" Orloff," the respited victim founded a family 
destined to become renowned in Russian his- 
tory. His son was taken into the ranks of the 
nobles, and his famous grandson Gregory, born 
in 1734, became a soldier early in life. Gregory 
QrTbff was a man of ability, but his fortune was 
undoubtedly due to his personal beauty. He 
was tall and handsome with a well-earned repu- 
tation for audacious courage, always alluring to 
the mind of a woman. His first appearance in 
the world of fashion reflects little credit upon 
him and still less upon the Russian society in 
which he lived. He was on the point of being 
sent to Siberia to think over his misdeeds at 
his leisure, when a hand was extended to him 
which afterward raised him almost to the sum- 
mit of human greatness. The Grand Duchess 
Catharine interested herself on his behalf and 
rescued him from Siberia. Orloff rapidly ad- 
vanced in her favor, and it may have been he 
who first inspired her with the boundless ambi- 



46 THE ORLOFF. 

tion which he afterwards aided her in grat- 
ifying. 

At all events Gregory Orloff and his brothers 
were the prime movers in that military insur- 
rection which overthrew Peter hi., a feeble, 
drunken imbecile, and set up in his place his 
wife Catharine, a handsome imperious strong- 
willed woman. The revolt took place on July 
9, 1762, and the new Empress instantly ordered 
her vanquished husband into confinement. Let 
us trust that she ordered not his death. Catha- 
rine 11., often called the Great, and sometimes 
the Holy, has enough for which to answer with- 
out the addition of the deliberate murder of her 
husband to swell the account against her. Be 
this as it may, the fact remains that a fortnight 
later Peter 111. was strangled by Alexey Orloff, 
brother of Gregory the favorite of Catharine. 

Thus left in undisturbed possession of the 
throne the Czarina loaded with riches and titles 
the brothers who had aided her. But nothing 
was sufficient for the ambition of Gregory Orloff. 



THE- ORLOFF. 47 

Not content with the position of First Subject 
he aspired to that of Master. Catharine, who 
seemed unable to refuse him anything, was 
several times on the point of recognizing him of- 
ficially as her husband, and he had reason to sup- 
pose himself on the verge of grasping the great 
prize of his ambition when it was snatched away. 

In 1772, being then absent upon a mission to 
the Turks, Orloff's credit with Catharine was 
utterly destroyed by his rival Potemkin. Hur- 
rying back in such desperate haste that he had 
not a coat for which to change his traveling 
cloak, in hopes of repairing his evil fortunes, 
Orloff was met by an order to travel abroad. 
It was thus that Catharine always relieved her- 
self of the presence of favorites whose company 
had. become irksome. 

Orloff, maddened with rage, set out on his 
travels and wandered all over the north of 
Europe. It was during his exile that he heard 
of the wonderful diamond that Khojeh Raphael 
had for sale. Knowing how fond Catharine 



4-S THE ORLOFF. 

was of all jewels and especially of diamonds, he 
hoped to propitiate her by a unique gift of the 
kind. Catharine took the gift, but refused to 
receive the giver back into her favor. Her 
fickle affections were engaged by another hand- 
some face, and Gregory Orloff spent the remain- 
ing years of his life in aimless journeyings 
varied by an occasional visit to St. Petersburg. 
He died mad in 1783. He used sometimes to 
address the Empress, calling upon her by the 
pet-name of " Katchen " ; or again he would 
taunt her with her unkindness. 

Such was the life and death of Gregory Orloff. 
The diamond to which his name was given 
although accepted by Catharine seems not to 
have been worn by her as a personal ornament. 
It was mounted in the Imperial Sceptre where 
it has ever since remained undisturbed. In its 
latter state of tranquil splendor it differs sig- 
nally from the Regent whose European career, 
as we have seen, has been a singularly stormy 
one. As the sceptre is used only at coronations 



THE ORLOFF. 49 

the history of the Orloff becomes one of long 
repose and seclusion, diversified by transient 
re-entrances into grandeur as successive Czars 
appear upon the scene to be crowned. 

The most singular coronation which has ever 
been performed was probably that which fol- 
lowed the death of Catharine and preceded 
the consecration of her son and successor. 
Catharine died in 1797 after a reign of thirty- 
five years. But before she could be buried 
there was a ceremony to be performed, the like 
of which had never been seen. 

Her son Paul, a taciturn individual who 
seems never to have forgotten his father's mis- 
erable death, performed an expiatory coronation 
in his honor, seeing that that ceremony had 
been neglected in Peter's life. For this pur- 
pose the body of the long-dead Czar was disin- 
terred and was dressed in the Imperial robes. 
The ornaments of the coronation which had 
been fetched expressly from Moscow for the 
purpose were then disposed about the moulder- 



5° 



THE ORLOFF. 



ing figure. It must have been a grisly sight — * 
the crowned skeleton of the murdered Peter 
lying beside his wife's body with OrlofFs dia- 
mond banefully glittering on his bony hand. 
Nor was this all. With a genius for grim 
appropriateness the new Czar summoned the 
two surviving murderers of his father to attend 
as chief mourners. These were Prince Bara- 
tinsky and Alexey OrlofT. The former over- 
come by the horror of his recollections fainted 
away many times ; but OrlofT, with iron indiffer- 
ence, stood four hours bearing the pall of the 
man he had strangled with his own hands 
thirty-five years before. After performing this 
public penance both men were banished from 
Russia. 

The coronation of a sovereign is always a 
stately ceremony ; but the installation of the 
Czars of Russia is elaborate almost beyond 
description. The ceremonial invariably followed 
is that used at the coronation of Peter the Great 
and his Empress. The ritual is largely religious, 



THE ORLOFF. 5 I 

as the Czar is Head of the Church as well as 
Emperor. The sceptre of course plays an im- 
portant part and is taken up and put down a 
bewildering number of times. The following 
extract from a work entirely devoted to the 
explanation of the many comings and goings 
and uprisings and downsittings will give a slight 
idea of what a performance the coronation is : 

" The Metropolitan having received the Sceptre from 
the hands of the noble bearer carries it to the Emperor 
who takes it in his right hand. The Metropolitan says, 
' Most pious, most powerful, and very great Emperor of 
all the Russias, whom God has crowned, upon whom God 
has shed His gifts and His Grace, receive the Sceptre 
and the Globe. They are the symbols of the supreme 
power which the Most High has given thee over thy 
peoples, that thou mayest govern them and obtain for 
them all the happiness they desire.' And the Emperor 
takes the Sceptre and sits upon the throne." 

But this is not nearly all. The sceptre, which 
is graphically if somewhat grotesquely called 
the Triumph-stick, is held only for a brief time. 
The Emperor at the end of the prayer, lays it 



52 THE ORLOFF. 

upon a velvet cushion and upon another he 
places the globe or Empire-apple as it is termed. 
Then he calls to himself the Czarina and crowns 
her with his own imperial diadem. But the 
consort is not invested with any imperial power, 
therefore she does not receive either the sceptre 
or the globe. After having crowned his wife, 
the Czar again seats himself upon his throne 
holding his Stick and his Apple in either hand. 
Cannons roar, bells clang and multitudes shout 
" Long live the Father ! " while all present bow 
low before the monarch in adoration. Then 
the new Czar and Czarina receive the commun- 
ion with more stately movings about from place 
to place. Finally the Te Deum is sung, the 
crowned Emperor, sceptre in hand, walks forth, 
and the intricate ceremonial is thus brought to 
a close, having been in continuance some four 
or five hours. 

The Regalia, which includes seven or eight 
crowns, is kept in the Kremlin in an upper 
room " where," says a traveller, " they [the 



THE ORLOFF. 53 

crowns, etc.] look very fine on velvet cushions 
under glass cases." The Czars are always 
crowned in Moscow, the ancient capital of 
Russia. 

Paul, having performed the weird ceremony 
already described, then had himself duly and 
solemnly crowned. His reign was a short one 
however, and in 1801 he gave place to his suc- 
cessor Alexander, in the orthodox Russian man- 
ner — that is to say he was strangled. 

In 18 1 2 the OrlofT and its magnificent com- 
panions had to fly from Moscow. In the begin- 
ning of September in that terrible year, finding 
that the mountains of slain on the bloody field 
of Borodino could not stop Napoleon, the Rus- 
sians sullenly retired before him. On the third 
of the month the Regalia was carried out of 
Moscow and lodged in a place of safety in the 
interior. This flight was followed by that of 
everybody and everything that was portable. 
When Napoleon entered on the fourteenth it 
was to find an absolute desert in Moscow, only 



54 THE ORLOFF. 

a few stragglers, prisoners and beggars having 
been left. 

Alexander I., strange to say, died peacefully 
in 1826, leaving the throne to his brother 
Nicholas. Nicholas has been aptly called " the 
Iron Czar." He was the third son of his father, 
but his elder brother, Constantine, having no 
taste for the perilous glory of a crown renounced 
his rights in favor of Nicholas. There was 
some delay in crowning the new Czar owing, 
says the Court Circular with decorous gravity, 
to the illness and death of the late Emperor's 
widow who survived her husband but five 
months. In reality, however, the delay was 
caused by events more serious to the peace of 
mind of the new sovereign. A revolution, which 
seems an indispensable accompaniment to a 
change of rulers in Russia, exploded after the 
accession of Nicholas and came near to costing 
him his life. This event seems to have further 
hardened a nature that was already sufficiently 
severe, and when Nicholas went to Moscow in 



THE ORLOFF. 55 

August, 1826, his coronation progress was not 
meant to gladden the people but to make them 
quake. When the Czar left the Cathedral of 
the Assumption, his crown upon his head and 
his sceptre in his hand, " his face looked as 
hard as Siberian ice." So wrote of him an eye- 
witness, who further says the people were too 
frightened to cheer — they dropped on their 
knees with their faces in the dust. It was a 
gloomy coronation notwithstanding all the dia- 
monds and glitter of the pageant. There was 
but one redeeming incident that spoke of human 
kindliness and affection. When the Czar had 
been crowned his mother, the widow of the 
murdered Paul, advanced to do homage to him 
as her sovereign, but the Czar knelt before his 
mother and implored her blessing. Aftox~Xhe~ 



Empress Mother came Constantine, the elder 
brother, who had waived his rights to the crown, 
and he was in turn affectionately embraced by 
Nicholas. This exhibition of fraternal affection 
in Russia, where brothers had been known to 



56 THE ORLOFF. 

strangle each other in order to grasp the much- 
coveted sceptre, was considered as something 
quite unprecedented. The Court Chronicler 
of the day speaks of it with emotion as a sight 
to move the hearts of gods and men. 

Nicholas died in the middle of the Crimean 
War and Alexander 11. reigned in his stead. 
The extraordinary pomp of his coronation has 
never been surpassed. He in his turn held in 
his hand Orloff's great diamond as the symbol 
of absolute power. Yet he, who could deal as 
he chose with the lives of all his subjects, had 
not power to save his own from the hand of the 
assassin. The murder of Alexander 11. by 
Nihilists in March, 188 1, is fresh in memory as 
also the succession of the present Czar. The 
Orloff was then once more taken from its repose 
in the sumptuous privacy of the Kremlin to 
enhance the splendors of an Imperial Corona- 
tion. Within a short time the Orloff has 
served to grace yet another splendid ceremony. 
On the occasion of the recent installation of 



THE ORLOFF. 57 

the Czarevitch as Hetman of the Don Cossacks, 
the sceptre as well as the crown and globe, were 
exhibited to the admiring multitudes of Novo 
Tcherkask. 

Such is the career of the imperial diamond 
given by Gregory Orloff to his Empress. In 
appearance the gem differs materially from the 
Regent. It is essentially an Asiatic stone, 
presenting all the peculiarities of its Eastern 
birthplace. It is variously described as of about 
the size of a pigeon's egg or of a walnut. One 
writer expresses disappointment at it, remark- 
ing that the sceptre resembles a gold poker, 
and the Mountain of Light (a name sometimes 
given to the Orloff) " which we had pictured to 
ourselves as big as a walnut was no larger than 
a hazel-nut ! " Never having seen this diamond 
the present writer cannot speak of its apparent 
size ; but if the drawings are reliable it is cer- 
tainly a monstrous " hazel-nut " of a diamond. 

The cutting of the Orloff is purely in the 
Eastern style, being what is known as an Indian 



58 THE ORLOFF. 

rose. Asiatic amateurs have always prized size 
above everything in their gems. The lapidaries 
therefore treat each stone confided to them with 
is object mainly in view. A stone is accord- 
gly covered with as many small facets as its 
ape will allow, and no attempt at a mathe- 
atical figure, such as that presented by our 
uropean diamonds, is ever ventured upon by 
them. Cardinal Mazarin was the first who in- 
trusted his Indian rose-diamonds to the hands 
of European cutters in order to have them 
shaped into brilliants. The fashion thus set by 
him has been generally followed throughout 
Western Europe. Russia, however, true to her 
Asiatic traditions, keeps to Indian roses, most 
of her imperial diamonds being of that cut. 

The Orloff is now back again safe in the 
Kremlin, where let us hope it may long rest 
undisturbed either by rumors of invasion or a 
demand for a new coronation with its probable 
attendant assassination, universal terror and 
judiciary retribution. 



III. 



LA PELEGRINA. 



FROM time immemorial pearls have com- 
peted with diamonds for the first place 
as objects of beauty. In some countries indeed, 
notably in Persia, the post of honor has been 
awarded to them in spite of the brilliant flashes 
of their more showy rivals. 

Pearls differ in one essential respect from 
other precious gems in that they require no aid 
to enhance their beauty. They need only to be 
found, and the less they are handled the more 
perfect do they appear. 

Unlike diamonds, pearls were known to 
Greeks and Romans, while the area over which 
they are found comprises a large portion of the 
globe, extending from China to Mexico and 
from Scotland to Egypt. A certain pearl of 
59 



60 LA PELEGRINA. 

astonishing magnitude formed the chief treasure 
of ancient Persia, while every one is familiar 
with the persistent myth of Cleopatra's ear-ring 
and the cup of vinegar. People for centuries 
have wondered over the insane extravagance of 
the draught ; but they might have spared their 
wonder, for no acid which the human stomach 
can bear is powerful enough to dissolve a pearl. 
The various notions relative to the origin of 
pearls have done credit to the fertility of man's 
imagination. Some writers have affirmed that 
they were the product of " ocean dew," whatever 
that may be, and were accordingly affected by 
atmospheric conditions. Thus they were large 
and muddy during the season of the monsoon, 
becoming clear and lustrous again in hot dry 
weather, while thunder and lightning had a 
fatal effect upon them. These ideas were prev- 
alent in the Ceylon fisheries, which at one time 
were most prolific in their precious crop. 
Another idea was even still more quaint. Accord- 
ing to it, the oyster was looked upon as affecting 



LA PELEGRINA. 6 1 

the habits of the feathered tribe. The pearl 
was an egg which the oyster laid after the man- 
ner of hens. 

Modern science, more exact if less imagina- 
tive, has decided that the pearl is due to an 
accident, and an inconvenient accident which 
frequently befalls the parent oyster. A grain 
of sand, or some such minute foreign substance, 
gets within the jealous valves of the mollusk and 
causes great irritation to the soft body of the 
pulpy inhabitant. Accordingly it endeavors to 
render the presence of the intruder less irksome 
by coating it with exudations from its own 
body. In other words the grain of sand is 
" scratchy," so the oyster smooths it over. Why, 
then, after once coating the objectionable grain 
of sand and thus making it a comfortable lodger, 
the oyster should go on for years adding layer 
after layer of pearl-substance remains is truly a 
mystery. But such is its habitual practice, and 
to this apparently aimless perseverance we owe 
the existence of pearls. 



62 LA PELEGRINA. 

Long before America was discovered by 
Columbus, pearl-fishing had been largely carried 
on by the inhabitants of the islands in -the Gulf. 
When the Spaniards arrived in the South Sea 
they were charmed to find the dark-red natives 
decorated with strings of pearls. Montezuma 
was at all times bedecked with these glimmer- 
ing little globules, and in Florida De Soto was 
shown the tombs of the chiefs profusely orna- 
mented with the same gems. The mortuary 
shields were in some instances closely studded 
with thousands upon thousands of pearls ; and 
many stories have come down to us of weary 
soldiers flinging away bags of these gems which 
they had in vain tried to exchange for food or 
water. 

Pearls vary very much in size, ranging from 
the seed-pearl no bigger than a mustard grain, 
to the Pelegrina as large as a pigeon's egg ; 
and they vary also in shape. The most prized 
are the round pearls which besides their extreme 
rarity are supposed to have an especially deli- 



LA PELEGRINA. 6$ 

ite lustre ; the pear-shaped pearl generally 

tains the greatest size. 

The Pelegrina is a pear-shaped pearl weigh- 
ing one hundred and thirty-four grains, and at 
the date of its arrival in Europe and for a cen- 
tury afterwards was the largest known pearl. It 
came across the water in 1559, for the Pelegrina 
is an American prodigy. In that year, Philip 
11., King of Spain, was in a very festive mood. 
He had the year before lost his uncongenial 
although royal wife, Mary of England, and he 
was looking out for another bride. His choice 
fell upon Elizabeth^of. France, a pretty girl of 
sixteen who had been betrothed to his son Don 
Carlos. She arrived in Spain early in the fol- 
lowing year, and he expressed his delight at her 
beauty. He lavished all sorts of presents upon 
her and amongst others a " jewel salad." In this 
quaint conceit the role of lettuce was played by 
an enormous emerald, ably seconded by topazes 
for oil, and rubies for vinegar, while the minor 
but essential part of salt was assigned to pearls. 



64 LA PELEGRINA. 

Philip, whose one redeeming characteristic 
was a love for the fine arts, spent a considerable 
sum upon the purchase of jewels. He acquired 
a very large diamond just about this time, but 
the Pelegrina pearl was given to him. 

Garcilaso de la Vega, that gossipy historian 
who incorporated every possible subject and all 
sorts of anecdotes into his history of the Incas, 
saw the Pelegrina. Of course so interesting a 
fact was immediately set forth at length in the 
Royal Commetitaries of Peru, where it belongs at 
least with as much reason as the account of the 
writer's drunken fellow-lodger in Madrid. 

He says : 

" In order more particularly to know the riches of the 
King of Spain one has but to read the works of Padre 
Acosta, but I will content myself with relating that which 
I did myself see in Seville in 1579. It was a pearl which 
Don Pedro de Temez brought from Panama, and which 
he did himself present to Philip II. This pearl, by nature 
pear-shaped, had a long neck and was moreover as large 
as the largest pigeon's egg. It was valued at fourteen 
thousand four hundred ducats ($28,800) but Jacoba da 
Trezzo, a native of Milan, and a most excellent workman 



LA PELEGRINA. 65 

and jeweller to his Catholic Majesty, being present when 
thus it was valued said aloud that it was worth thirty 
— fifty — a hundred thousand ducats in order to show 
thereby that it was without parallel in the world. It was 
consequently called in Spanish La Peregrina which may 
be translated, I think, into " incomparable." * People 
used to go to Seville to see it as a curiosity. 

" At that time there chanced to be in that city an Italian 
who was buying the finest pearls for a great nobleman in 
Italy, but the largest gems he had were to it as a grain 
of sand to a large pebble. In a word, lapidaries and all 
those who understand the subject of Pearls said in order 
to express its value that it outweighed by twenty-four 
carats every other pearl in the world. It was found by 
a little negro boy, so said his master. The shell was very 
small and to all appearance there was nothing good in- 
side, not even a hundred reals worth, so that he was on 
the point of throwing it back into the sea." 

Fortunately he thought better of it and kept 
the insignificant shell. The lucky slave was 
rewarded with his liberty, while his master was 
given the post of alcalde of Panama, and the 
king kept the pearl. 

* The pearl was doubtless " incomparable " as de la Vega says, but 
at the same time it must not be supposed that such is the correct ren- 
dering of the word Peregrina or Pelegrina which means, originally 
stranger, hence our word "pilgrim." 



66 LA PELEGRINA. 

The Pelegrina was found off the small island 
of Santa Margareta, about one hundred miles 
distant from San Domingo. Pearl-fishing, as 
then carried on by the natives, was a simple 
affair, although at the same time rather danger- 
ous. The method was as follows : 

The negroes having proceeded in their fragile 
canoes to the rocky beds inhabited by the 
oysters, the divers then attached heavy stones 
to their feet to expedite their sinking. Carrying 
a basket, a knife, and a sponge dipped in oil, 
they plunged inio the sea holding fast to the 
rope which was to bring them to the surface 
again. Their noses and ears were stuffed with 
wool, but the pressure of the water frequently 
caused apoplexy, while sharks abounded in the 
vicinity. However, if the diver escaped both 
these perils, he proceeded as fast as possible to 
scrape off the shells with his knife and to put 
them into his basket. Occasionally he put the 
sponge to his mouth and sucked a little air 
from it, while the oil prevented him from swal- 



LA PELEGRINA. 67 

lowing any water. When he could bear it no 
longer he kicked the stones from off his feet, 
rattled at the rope, and was hauled up as rapidly 
as possible. Sometimes the divers remain "a 
quarter of an hour, yea, even a half " under 
water, placidly observes the padre in conclusion. 
Considering that he purports to have been an 
eye-witness, he should have been more careful 
of his written statements. From three to five 
minutes is the limit assigned by more cautious 
writers, and probably even this is an over esti- 
mate, as two minutes is now considered a long 
time for a good diver to remain under water 
without a diving bell. 

Philip 11. appears to have retained the Pele- 
grina for his own personal adornment and to 
have worn it as a hat-buckle. It looped up the 
side of his broad hat or cap according to the 
Spanish fashion. The black velvet and other 
sombre hues which he affected could hardly 
have given to the delicate gem the soft back- 
ground which its beauty demanded. But if it 



68 LA PELEGRINA. 

is true, as has been asserted by poets, that 
pearls are emblematical of tears, then this great 
pearl was the most fitting ornament for a king 
who put his son to death, poisoned his nephew, 
burnt his subjects and devastated the Nether- 
lands during quarter of a century. 

Philip's son and successor, likewise Philip of 
name, made little use of the Pelegrina ; but his 
wife Margareta wore it on the occasion of a 
grand ball which was given in Madrid in 1605 
to celebrate the conclusion of peace between 
England and Spain. 

James 1. was very eager for the alliance of 
his son with the royal house of Spain. To effect 
this purpose he sent the Prince of Wales and 
his favorite Buckingham on a romantic mission 
to Madrid to make love to the Infanta. This 
was considered a very remarkable proceeding, 
and great was the astonishment of all the 
crowned heads throughout Europe who were in 
the habit of doing their courting by means of 
ambassadors, envoys, and other plenipotentiaries. 



LA PELEGRINA. 69 

The Prince of Wales was received with great 
pomp. Balls, jousts and bull-fights in profusion 
were ordered for his benefit, and the King, 
Queen and Infanta loaded their visitor with kind 
attention. At the same time it must have been 
rather an irksome visit to all concerned. Charles 
spoke to the Queen once in French, she being 
a French princess, whereupon she advised him 
to do it no more as it was customary to kill any 
man who spoke to queens of Spain in a foreign 
tongue ! 

On the departure of the English prince gifts 
to a fabulous amount were exchanged amongst 
the royalties. One pearl in particular was de- 
clared by the court chronicler to be so fine that 
it might " supply the absence of the Pelegrina." 
The splendid pearl, thus highly rated by the 
Spanish courtier, was given by Charles to the 
Cardinal-Infante along with a pectoral of topazes 
and diamonds. 

The Pelegrina appeared at most of the court 
pageants of Madrid, serving to deck either the 



70 LA PELEGRINA, 

kings or the queens during several generations. 
When, for example, in the summer of 1660, 
Philip iv. of Spain brought his daughter Maria 
Theresa to the frontier to be married to the 
young King of France, Louis xiv., the beautiful 
pearl appeared on the scene to lend its splendor 
to the occasion. Mademoiselle de Montpensier, 
the fantastic lady who was known in her day as 
la grande Mademoiselle, speaks thus of the Pele- 
grina and its wearer : 

"The King (Philip iv.) had on a gray coat with silver 
embroidery : a great table diamond fastened up his hat 
from which hung a pearl. They are two crown jewels of 
extreme beauty — they call the diamond the Mirror of 
Portugal, and the pearl the Pelegrina." 

On this occasion the two courts of Versailles 
and Madrid vied with each other in splendor, 
and their doings have rendered famous the little 
boundary river of the Bidassoa with its Isle of 
the Pheasant. A modern traveler whisking 
past in the train sees but little to recall the once 
famous spot ; a half dried-up river and a marshy 



L-A PELEGRINA. 



71 



reed-covered swamp are all that now remain. 
The island is gone, so also are the royal 
houses whose meeting there was so great an 
event. 

There is one occasion upon which the Pele- 
grina served to deck a bride so young and fair 
that it deserves more than a passing notice. 
The bride was Marie Louise d'Orleans, the first 
wife of Charles 11. This poor sickly King, the 
last descendant of the mighty Charles v., was a 
very shy boy and extremely averse to the society 
of women. When he was about seventeen his 
mother and the royal council decided that he 
must be married, and they cast their eyes upon 
the neighboring house of France, into which 
Spanish monarchs were in the habit of marrying 
when not engaged with it in war. The only 
suitable lady was "Mademoiselle" — for such 
was in ancient France the distinctive title of the 
eldest niece of the King. Mademoiselle, besides 
being niece to Louis xiv., was furthermore pretty, 
vivacious, and only sixteen. Her portrait was 



72 LA FELEGRINA. 

sent to Spain, and what was the amazement of 
the court to see the shy young king, who could 
scarcely look a woman in the face, fall violently 
in love with this portrait. He kept it always 
beside him and was observed frequently to 
address the tenderest expressions to it. 

Such being the satisfactory state of the King's 
feelings the match was rapidly concluded, and 
Marie Louise set out from Versailles to go to 
her unknown husband. On his side Chailes II. 
went forward to meet her as far as Burgos, and 
there they first saw each other in 1679. When 
the King was unexpectedly announced, Made- 
moiselle was observed to blush and look agitated 
which made her all the prettier. As Charles 
entered her apartment she advanced in order 
to kneel at his feet, but the Boy-King caught 
her by both arms and gazing at her with delight 
cried, " My Queen, my Queen ! " 

Although she arrived in Madrid in the autumn 
of 1679, the young Queen did not make her 
state-entry into her capital until the following 



LA PELEGRINA. 73 

January. In the meantime she was kept in the 
closest seclusion. Not all the power of the 
King of Spain joined to the love which Charles 
bore to his wife was sufficient to break down the 
adamantine wall of etiquette which long usage 
had built around the queens of Spain. Like a 
Moorish slave in a harem, the gay young French 
girl was shut up alone with her Lady of the Bed- 
chamber and was permitted to see no one except 
the King. She was not allowed to write to her 
own family nor receive their letters. She was 
even refused permission to read a letter from 
Paris which a compassionate friend sent her in 
order that she might hear a little news. She 
was a prisoner indeed, although the prison was 
gilded. It needed something to atone for two 
months of such a life, and if a grand display 
could sweep away the recollection of it that con- 
solation was not withheld. 

On January 13, 1680, the Bride-Queen at last 
entered Madrid. Madame la Mothe,- whose 
keen French eyes saw everything and whose 



74 LA PELEGRINA. 

sharp French pen chronicled it, has left a minute 
account of the ceremony. She says : 

" The Queen rode upon a curious Andalusian horse 
which the Marquis de Villa Magna, her first gentleman- 
usher, led by the rein. Her clothes were so richly em- 
broidered that one could see no stuff ; she wore a hat 
trimmed with a plume of feathers and the pearl called the 
Pelegrina which is as big as a small pear and of inestima- 
ble value, her hair hung loose upon her shoulders, and 
upon her forehead. Her neck was a little bare and she 
wore a small farthingale ; she had upon her finger the 
large diamond of the king's, which is pretended to be the 
finest in Europe. But the Queen's pretty looks showed 
brighter than all her sparkling jewels." 

There is a picture still extant of this queen 
which proves her to have been pretty in spite of 
the disfigurement effected by some of her spark- 
ling jewels. Madame la Mothe does not men- 
tion what the picture shows, namely, that the 
Queen's ears were weighted down by a pair of 
ornaments as large as saucers which the Queen- 
mother had presented to her. Above the ear- 
rings moreover were a pair of huge jewelled 



LA PELEGRINA. 75 

rosettes fastened to the hair in such a way as to 
make one almost fancy that the ears were being 
dragged out by their enormous pendants and 
had to be nailed up by the rosettes. 

Marie Louise lived but a few years to enjoy 
the love of her husband and the splendor of 
her rank. It was said that she died of a broken 
heart caused by the torments of court jealousies 
and intrigues against which the King, her hus- 
band, in vain tried to shield her. 

Charles ii. died in 1705, and being childless 
he bequeathed his crown to Philip of Anjou, 
grandson of Louis xiv. and cousin to the wife 
of his youth whose memory was still dear to 
him. Of course other claimants arose to grasp 
so splendid an inheritance, so that the funeral 
torches of Charles may be said to have set fire 
to Europe. At all events, a vast conflagration 
soon burst forth known as the War of the Span- 
ish Succession, which included ere long within 
its fiery embrace Spain, France, England, Aus- 
tria, Italy, Germany and Holland. After all 



76 LA PELEGRINA. 

their fighting however Philip still remained 
King of Spain, and the house which he founded 
is now, in the person of the Baby-King of Spain, 
the last reigning example of that mighty tribe 
of Bourbons which at one time ruled over so 
large a portion of Europe. 

During the first years of his reign Philip v. 
had to fight for his throne, nor was he invariably 
successful. At one time he was so hard-pressed 
by his rival, the Archduke Charles, that he had 
almost to seek rufuge in France. By the urgent 
entreaty of his ministers the King and Queen 
did not actually quit the soil of Spain, but the 
Pelegrina did do so. The invaluable pearl, 
along with the rest of the crown jewels, was en- 
trusted to a French valet named Susa, who 
crossed over the frontier into France, kept his 
treasures safe until the danger was passed, and 
then when the tide of success began to flow 
for Philip brought them back again to Madrid. 

This is the last authentic appearance of the 
Pelegrina in Spanish history. After this date, 



LA PELEGRINA. 77 

1707, its story becomes confused and oftentimes 
contradictory. It is alleged to have been given 
first to one favorite and then to another, while 
finally as a climax of confusion another pearl in 
Spain, one in Sardinia, and one in Moscow, im- 
pudently assume its name and masquerade as 
the true and veritable Pelegrina. 

Our own inquiries both in Madrid and St. 
Petersburg have failed to supply the links that 
are missing in its history. We cannot say when 
it finally passed away from the crown of Spain, 
for there have been many clearances of the 
royal jewels to meet the exigencies of various 
kings. At all events, for the last thirty years 
it has been in the hands of a Russian family. 
The Oussoupoffs belong to the ancient nobility 
and they are extremely wealthy ; but how and 
when the Princess Oussoupoff became possessed 
of the Pelegrina we do not pretend to say. The 
friend who made the inquiries for us said sig- 
nificantly that it was impossible to ask many 
questions in Russia. Questions, however inno- 



78 LA PELEGRINA. 

cent, are looked upon with great suspicion and 
any questioner is liable to repent of his inquisi- 
tiveness. It is a pity that so historic a gem as 
the Pelegrina should be practically lost to us in 
a Russian lady's jewel casket. Any other large 
pearl would have served her purpose equally 
well for mere ornament, and had the Pelegrina 
remained in Western Europe we should prob- 
ably know something more about it or at all 
events we should be able to ask what questions 
we like without incurring the suspicion of treason 
and of being desirous of hurling the Romanoffs 
from their throne. 



IV. 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 



THE Koh-i-nur is the most ancient, the most 
illustrious, and the most traveled of all 
our diamonds. It is what is called a white dia- 
mond, but its color would be of the deepest 
crimson, if only one thousandth part of the 
blood which has been shed for it could have 
tinted its rays. It looms through the mist of 
ages until the mind refuses to trace further 
backwards its nebulous career. 

It is to an emperor that we owe the first con- 
temporary account of the imperial gem. In 
1526 Baber, the Mogul conqueror, speaks of it 
as among the captured treasures of Delhi. But 
that was by no means the first time that it 
mingled in the affairs of men. It was already 
" the famous diamond " in Baber's time, and a 
79 



80 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

wild tradition would have us believe that it was 
found no less than five thousand years ago. If 
it were found then, and if it has been ever since 
the contested prize of adventurers, thieves and 
all sorts of marauders, we cannot be too thank- 
ful that forty-seven of those fifty centuries are 
mercifully hidden from us. 

Sultan Baber was a great man, a mighty con- 
queror and a good writer. He has left full and 
minute journals of his long adventurous life, 
which take the panting reader through such a 
series of battles, sieges, conquests, defeats, royal 
pageants and hair-breadth escapes, that at last 
one cries out with wonder, " Can this man have 
been mortal to have lived through all this ? " 

Baber came from good old conquering stock. 
His father was sixth in descent from Tamerlane 
the Tartar, and his mother stood somewhat 
nearer to Jenghis Khan. Following in the foot- 
steps of his fierce ancestors, Baber invaded 
India, or as he himself complacently remarks : 
" he put his foot in the stirrup of resolution and 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 8 1 

went against the Emperor Ibrahim." Rushing 
down like a devastating whirlwind from his 
mountain fastnesses around Cabul, Baber fell 
upon the Punjaub, first striking down all that 
opposed him and then writing about it in his 
Memoirs. 

On the twenty-first of April, 1526, he encoun- 
tered the army of Ibrahim on the field of Pani- 
put. "The sun was spear-high when the con- 
test began, and at midday they were completely 
beaten and my men were exulting in victory," 
says Baber. The Indian emperor was killed 
and his head was brought to the victorious 
Mogul. Immediately after the battle, the con- 
queror sent forward two flying squadrons to 
Agra and Delhi respectively to seize the treas- 
ures of the fallen king. The troop which went 
to Agra was commanded by Humayun, the 
favorite son of Baber. It is with this troop and 
its doings that we are concerned, but what was 
found in the Hindoo treasury had best be told 
by the conqueror hiaiself : 



82 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

" Sultan Sekandar had made Agra his residence during 
several years while he was endeavoring to reduce Gwalior. 
That stronghold was at length gained by capitulation in 
the reign of Ibrahim : Shemsabad being given in exchange 
to Bikermajet the Hindoo who was Rajah of Gwalior for 
more than a hundred years.* In the battle of Paniput he 
was sent to Hell. [Incisive Mohammedan expression 
which signifies the death of an unbeliever.] When Hu- 
mayun arrived (at Agra) Bikermajet's people attempted to 
escape, but were taken by the parties which Humayun had 
placed upon the watch and put in custody. Humayun did 
not permit them to be plundered. Of their own free will 
they presented to Humayun a pesh kesh (tribute) consist- 
ing of a quantity of jewels and precious stones. Among 
these was one famous diamond which had been acquired 
by the Sultan Ala-ed-din." 

We may reasonably doubt how much of free 
will there was in the gift from a defeated 
Hindoo prince to his Afghan conqueror. Let 
us question this as we may, there is little doubt 
as to what diamond it was, although Baber gives 
it no name. The Sultan Ala-ed-din, to whom 
the imperial memoir-writer here refers, flourished 
a couple of centuries previously, and it is gener- 

* Baber's meaning is obscure : probably he should have said " whose 
family were rajahs, etc." 



THE KOH-I-NUR. &$ 

ally believed that he obtained " the famous dia- 
mond" in 1304 when he conquered the Rajah 
of Malwa in whose family it had been for ages. 
How it eventually came into the hands of 
Bikermajet is not explained. But in the wild whirl 
of revolution and insurrection, which form the 
main staple of Indian history, many things get 
hopelessly mixed, and a diamond might easily 
turn up unexpectedly and be quite unable to ac- 
count for itself. Babergoes on to relate that the 
great diamond — 
we will antedate 
its name by two 
centuries and 
call it hencefor- 
ward the Koll- KOH-I-NUR, INDIAN CUT. 

(186 carats.) 

i-nur — was val- 
ued by a competent judge of diamonds "at 
half the daily expenditure of the whole world " 
— an expression which for grandiloquent vague- 
ness can scarcely be surpassed. Fortunately 
the same competent judge had not the weighing 




84 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

of the stone, or we should be befogged by some 
further Oriental hyperbole. 

The emperor however says distinctly that the 
diamond weighed about eight mishkals, which 
being interpreted means about one hundred and 
eighty-six carats of our weight, or a little less 
than the Orloff and fifty carats more than the 
Regent. It is mainly on the evidence of the 
weight thus carefully recorded by Baber, that 
we identify the Koh-i-nur, and can trace its 
subsequent career. On its arrival in England 
its exact weight was found to be one hundred 
and eighty-six and one-sixteenth carats, which 
agrees with the figure given by Baber as af- 
terwards computed by dependable authorities. 
When we consider the extreme rarity of these 
great diamonds, coupled with the fact that no 
two stones are of exactly the same weight, we 
may feel pretty safe in concluding that Baber's 
" famous diamond " and our Koh-i nur are one 
and the same stone, especially as henceforward 
its history is tolerably consecutive. 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 85 

This magnificent gem the emperor gave to 
his beloved son Humayun, who had very duti- 
fully offered it to his father as tribute. It is 
somewhat painful to learn that Humayun re- 
warded this generosity by base ingratitude. 
The very next year we find Baber making this 
complaint : 

" I received information that Humayun had repaired to 
Delhi and had there opened several houses which con- 
tained the treasure and had taken possession by force of 
the contents. I certainly never expected such conduct 
from him, and, being extremely hurt, I wrote and sent to 
him some letters containing the severest reprehension." 

It was surely not a comely action in the man 
who had received the Koh-i-nur as a gift from 
the hands of his father, to plunder that father's 
treasure houses. Baber was at all events in full 
possession of his health and power and was 
abundantly able to enforce the obedience of his 
son. He again admitted Humayun into favor, 
and four years later, namely in 1530, we find this 
fondly-cherished son languishing in mortal ill- 



86 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

ness. The father was in despair, and sent him 
down the Ganges one hundred miles to Agra in 
hopes of benefiting him, but apparently to no 
purpose. A man of great piety was appealed 
to for his opinion, and he declared that in such 
cases the Almighty sometimes deigned to receive 
a man's most valuable possession as a ransom 
for the life of his friend. Baber declared, that 
next to the life of Humayun, his own was what 
he held most precious in the world, and that he 
would offer it up as a sacrifice. His courtiers, 
aghast at the purport of such a vow, begged 
him to offer up instead " that great diamond 
taken at Agra," and reputed to be the most val- 
uable thing on earth. 

But the Koh-i-nur, almost priceless as it was, 
Baber esteemed at a lower figure than his own 
existence. The self-devoted emperor walked 
thrice around the bed of his son, saying aloud : 
" I have borne it away, I have borne it away." 
Immediately thereafter he was observed to sink 
into illness, while Humayun as steadily regained 



THE KOHI-NUR. 87 

his health. So all Eastern historians of the 
time declare, devoutly believing in the miracle. 
Perhaps we, more sceptical, may account for it 
by suggesting that both men, father and son, 
were suffering from Indian fever, and that the 
elder died, while the younger was able to live 
through it. 

Humayun must have retained possession of 
the Koh-i-nur during his adventurous life, for his 
son, the celebrated Akbar, appears to have be- 
queathed it in turn to his son and successor, 
Jehangir. This Jehangir was the most magnifi- 
cent of all the Mogul emperors, or indeed it 
might be safely added of all the emperors of the 
world. He was a great admirer of diamonds of 
which he possessed a vast quantity. He must 
have inherited an immense number of jewels 
from his father Akbar, for in his memoirs he 
describes his crown, which he valued at a sum 
equivalent to ten millions of dollars, and which 
was composed exclusively of the diamonds and 
other jewels which Akbar had purchased. 



88 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

This seems to establish the fact that the 
Koh-i-nur was not incorporated in the imperial 
crown. It may possibly have been one of those 
magnificent diamonds which he used so lavishly 
in the adornment of his renowned peacock 
throne, the value of which amounted, according 
to his own estimate, to the unheard-of figure of 
forty millions of dollars. Some writers indeed 
go so far as to assert that the Koh-i-nur was one 
of the eyes of that stupendous peacock, which 
was entirely composed of precious stones, and 
whose out-spread tail overshadowed the throne 
of the Moguls. According to them, too, the 
Orloff diamond was the other eye. But this is 
clearly a mistake ; we have already seen where 
the Orloff came from — a thousand miles and 
more from Delhi. 

It seems most probable that the peerless stone 
was worn as a personal ornament. There is ex- 
tant an interesting contemporary print, which 
represents Jehangir decked out with a profusion 
of large pearls, in addition to which he wears 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 89 

around his neck a long string of various jewels. 
In the center of this chain hangs one stone of 
such exceptional size that it may well be the 
Koh-i-nur. This however is only conjectural. 
Terry, the author of the print, chaplain to Sir 
Thomas Roe, who was sent on an embassy from 
James 1. to the Grand Mogul, does not mention 
the Koh-i-nur by name. He merely observes that 
the Emperor was in the habit of wearing around 
his neck " a string of all his best jewels," and 
since the Koh-i-nur was undoubtedly the finest 
diamond then known, and was apparently in his 
possession, it is more than probable that it 
would figure in the necklace. 

Jehangir's empress was the celebrated Nur 
Jehan (Light of the World), a princess famous 
alike for her beauty and her wisdom. The em- 
peror says in his autobiography that she had the 
entire management of his household and of his 
treasure, whether gold or jewels. He might 
have justly added that she had the entire man- 
agement of himself also, for he was completely 



90 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

under her influence. This beautiful Light of 
the World must have been uncommonly fond of 
jewels, as the emperor says that he had to give 
her thirty-five millions of dollars at their mar- 
riage to buy the needful jewels. Also Nur 
Jehan is said to have invented the now world- 
famous perfume, attar of roses. Toward the 
end of Jehangir's life the Koh-i-nur and all his 
other diamonds, we are told, ceased to charm, 
and he no longer desired to possess them. 
Even of diamonds, it appears, one may have a 
surfeit. 

Shah Jehan, son of Jehangir, ascended the 
throne of India in 1627, and was if possible 
more addicted to jewels than his father. He 
caused basins of diamonds to be waved over 
his head in order to avert evil. This sort of in- 
cantation seems to have failed of its purpose in 
his case for he was dethroned and imprisoned 
by his rebellious son, Aurung-zeb, who kept him 
in confinement during the last seven years of 
his life. His diamonds and his daughter, Jiha- 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 



9 1 



nira, were left with him to keep him company 
and amuse him during these tedious years. 

Aurung-zeb, who, for an Eastern potentate, 
was rather short of jewels, sent one day to his 
father to get some of his diamonds in order to 
adorn his turban which could boast of but one 
great ruby. The imprisoned Shah Jehan ex- 
claimed in his wrath that he would break all his 
gems to atoms sooner than let his un dutiful son 
touch one of them. He further intimated that 
the hammers were kept in readiness for this 
purpose. His daughter prevailed upon him to 
spare his glittering pebbles, and so the Koh-i-nur 
escaped an ignominious death. 

The same princess offered a basin full of 
diamonds to Aurung-zeb when he came to see 
her in her palace prison after the demise of their 
father, and thus the Koh-i-nur came to adorn 
the brow of another emperor. For nearly a 
century after the Koh-i-nur dwelt tranquilly in 
Delhi, adding the lustre of its rays to the turbans 
of the Mogul empress until the year 1739. 



9 2 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 



Mohammed Shah, a feeble irresolute man, 
was appointed by Fate to hold the sceptre of 
India at the moment when she was to meet 
her fiercest foe. Thamas Kouli Khan, better 
known as Nadir Shah, had raised himself to the 
throne of Persia and, like all usurpers, felt the 
need of strengthening himself afTiome by a 
successful foreign war. He accordingly invaded 
India, at the head of a small force of hardy 
fighters, who, in the words of Nadir's grandilo- 
quent Persian biographer, " threw the shadow 
of their sabers across the existence of their 
foes." In short they killed all before them and 
entered the Punjaub early in the year 1739, by 
pretty much the same route as that followed by 
Baber, the ancestors of the Moguls. But the 
Moguls were changed since the days of Baber. 
Mohammed Shah was completely defeated the 
moment he encountered Nadir Shah. 

However, booty, rather than territory, was the 
object of the invader, so he did not dethrone 
Mohammed, but only levied tribute from him. 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 93 

The defeated Mogul gave an unheard-of quan- 
tity of jewels to Nadir Shah " who was at first 
reluctant to receive them, but at length con- 
sented to place the seal of his acceptance upon 
the mirror of his request." Such reluctance is 
very foreign to the generally rapacious and 
grasping character of Nadir Shah, and probably 
existed only in the flowery imagination of the 
writer of his life. 

Having become aware that the Koh-i-nur was 
not among the treasures he had already sealed 
with his acceptance, Nadir Shah set about hunt- 
ing for it, and at last a traitor was found who 
betrayed the secret of its hiding-place. A 
woman from the harem told the Persian king 
that the coveted diamond lay hidden in the folds 
of Mohammed's turban, which he never took 
off. Nadir accordingly one day invited his help- 
less friend, Mohammed, to exchange turbans 
with him in sign of their everlasting friendship. 
As in the time of the first free-will offering to 
Baber two centuries before, the Koh-i-nur was 



94 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

once again to pass from the conquered to the 
conqueror, from the weak to the strong. 

It is said that Nadir Shah, overjoyed at the 
beauty of the gem he had thus cleverly filched 
from his ally, called it " Koh-i-nur " (i. e. the 
Rock of Light) the first time that he laid eyes 
upon it. If this is really a fact it is very singu- 
lar. It is indeed strange that Jehangir, who 
was so fond of descriptive names compounded 
with Light, should have left it to the enemy of 
his race to endow one of his favorite diamonds 
with this poetical title. One would prefer to 
think that he had called his diamond the Rock 
of Light just as he had called his wife the Light 
of the World. 

Upon the retreat of the conqueror the dia- 
mond was carried off with other booty. The 
Koh-i-nur therefore went from Delhi into Persia, 
and eventually it descended to Shah Rokh, the 
hapless son of the mighty Nadir Shah. But he 
who would wear the great diamond in peace 
must himself be strong, and Shah Rokh was 






THE KOH-I-NUR. 97 

weak. The wretched prince was unable to hold 
the throne, usurped by his father, against the 
usurpations of his own lieutenants. In 175 1 he 
was dethroned and his eyes put out by Aga 
Mohammed, who endeavored by the most fright- 
ful tortures to force him to give up his diamonds 
and other treasures. Shah Rokh however, in 
spite of all, still retained the Koh-i-nur and his 
tormentor thereupon devised for him a diadem 
of boiling pitch and oil which was placed on his 
unhappy head. But even this expedient failed 
to make him give up his priceless gem. 

A powerful neighbor, the lord of Kandahar, 
an old friend of his father, now came to Shah 
Rokh's assistance, put his tormentor to death, 
and once more placed the forlorn prince upon 
his tottering throne. In reward for this timely 
service, the Persian gave to his deliver the 
Koh-i-nur in whose rays his sightless eyes could 
no longer rejoice. Shortly afterwards he died 
from the effects of his injuries. 

The Koh-i-nur was now in Afghanistan, the 



98 THE KOH-INUR. 

birthplace of Baber, while Baber's descendants 
on the throne of Delhi helplessly mourned its 
loss. It went from father to son safely enough 
for two generations in the land of the Afghans, 
and then its evil spell began to work once more. 

In 1793, just after its rival, the Regent, had 
been lost and found in the midst of the French 
Revolution, the Koh-i-nur passed by inheritance 
into the hands of Taimur Shah, the king of 
Cabul. He left it along with his crown and 
his kingdom to Raman Shah, his eldest son. 
Raman had enjoyed the triple inheritance for 
only a few years when his brother rose in arms 
against him, and being successful, as most rebels 
are in Afghanistan, followed the old established 
etiquette of the Cabul royal family : — the mes- 
sengers of Shah Shuja, the triumphant rebel, 
met their deposed sovereign on his way to the 
capital, and they put out his eyes by piercing 
the eyeballs repeatedly with a lancet. 

This done, Shah Shuja sat himself down to 
enjoy the sweets of Asiatic power. The Koh- 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 99 

i-nur was not immediately his, however, for it 
was some time before it came to light, and then 
by the merest accident. An officer, happening 
to scratch his finger against something that pro- 
truded from the plaster in the walls of the prison 
of poor blinded Shah Raman, turned to examine 
the cause of the wound. To his amazement he 
discovered it to be the corner of the great dia- 
mond, which the unlucky prisoner fancied he 
had securely hidden away. ) Shah Shuja wore the 
Koh-i-nur in a bracelet during the brief splen- 
dor of his reign, and it was on his arm when 
English eyes first saw it. 

Mountstuart Elphinstone, the pioneer of the 
weary throng of Englishmen who have trod the 
road to Cabul, thus speaks of the Koh-i-nur and 
its possessor to whom he was accredited as am- 
bassador in 1812 : 

" At first we thought the Afghan was clad in an armour 
of jewels, but on closer inspection that appeared to be a 
mistake His real dress consisted of a green tunic with 
large flowers in gold and precious stones over which were 



IOO THE KOH-I-NUR. 

a large breast-plate of diamonds shaped like two flattened 
fleurs-de-lis, and an ornament of the same kind on each 
thigh ; large emerald bracelets on the arms above the 
elbows and many other jewels in. different places. In one 
of the bracelets was the Koh-i-nur, known to be one of 
the largest diamonds in the world. There were also 
some strings of very large pearls put on like cross belts, 
only looser." 

Shah Shuja met with the fate he had meted 
out to his elder brother, and in his turn was 
blinded and dethroned by his younger brother, 
Shah Mahmud. The two blinded Shahs, united 
by a common misfortune, escaped together over 
the border and were doubly welcome at the 
court of Runjeet Singh, the fierce ruler, who 
goes by the name of the Lion of Lahore. The 
unhappy brothers did not come empty handed. 
Shah Shuja had managed to bring away with 
him an immense amount of jewels ; hence the 
joy of Runjeet Singh, who had a passion for 
diamonds. 

On the second clay after his entrance into 
Lahore, Shah Shuja was waited upon by an 



THE KOH-I-NUR. IOI 

emissary from Runjeet, who demanded the jewel 
in the name of his master. The fugitive mon- 
arch asked for time to consider the request, and 
hinted that after he had partaken of Runjeet's 
hospitality he might be disposed to listen to his 
demands. 

But the Lion of Lahore was in too great a 
hurry to lay his hands upon Shuja's diamond 
to think of hospitality. On the contrary he 
treated the Shah as a prisoner, separated him 
from his wife, and acted with extreme harsh- 
ness towards the latter. He even tried to 
starve the poor Begum into giving up her dia- 
monds. He fancied that he had succeeded, and, 
in great delight, spread out before some know- 
ing persons, the gems which his cruelty had ex- 
torted from the luckless queen, asking them 
which was the Koh-i-nur. Great was Runjeet's 
disgust when he was told that the famous dia- 
mond was not among the lot. 

Shah Shuja speaking of the final transaction 
says : 



102 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

" After a month passed in this manner confidential ser- 
vants of Runjeet at length waited on us and asked again 
for the Koh-i-nur, which we promised to deliver as soon 
as the treaty was agreed upon between us." 

A couple of days after this interchange of 
preliminaries, Runjeet appeared in person, and 
was full of friendship and promises. He swore 
by all manner of things to maintain inviolable a 
treaty to the following effect : 

" That he delivered over certain provinces to us and our 
heirs forever, also offering assistance in troops and treas- 
ure for the purpose of again recovering our throne. He 
then proposed himself that we should exchange turbans 
(ominous precedent !) which among the Sikhs is a pledge 
of eternal friendship, and we then gave up to him the 
Koh-i-nur diamond.'* 

After which, let it be remarked, Runjeet broke 
all his promises. 

The actual ceremonial of the delivering up of 
the Koh-i-nur is graphically described by an 
eye-witness of the scene, who says that the be- 
havior of Shah Shuja throughout the entire pro- 
ceeding was dignified and impressive. 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 103 

On the appointed day (namely, June i, 1813) 
the Rajah accompanied by several experts — he 
was determined there should be no mistake this 
time — proceeded to Shadera where Shuja was 
residing. The two potentates sat in profound 
silence for one whole hour, neither being dis- 
posed to speak first Runjeet Singh was con- 
sumed with impatient desire to see the Koh-i-nur, 
so at length he hinted to an attendant, who in 
turn hinted to Shah Shuja the purpose for which 
they were all thus solemnly assembled. Shuja, 
silent still, nodded to a servant, who speedily 
placed upon the carpet a small casket. Then 
again a tremendous silence ensued which Run- 
jeet bore as long as he could, and at last he 
nodded to a servant to open the casket. The 
Koh-i-nur lay revealed, and was recognized by 
the experts as the true gem. 

Runjeet, for the first time speaking, asked, 
"At what price do you value it ? " 

Shuja, answering from out of his woeful 
knowledge, said : " At good luck ; for it has 



104 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

ever been the associate of him who has van- 
quished his foes." 

Shah Shuja seemed to imagine the diamond 
to be a bearer of blessings. This is the common 
belief in India with regard to large diamonds, 
which are supposed to possess magic virtues ; 
but Edwin Arnold, than whom there exists no 
better authority about Indian legends, distinctly 
states that according to a Hindoo tradition " a 
baleful influence " was ascribed to the Koh-i-nur. 
" The genii of the mines, as it declared, envi- 
ously persecuted with misfortunes the succes- 
sive holders of this treasure." Rapidly glanc- 
ing over the history which we know he draws 
the conclusion that the tradition sprang up after 
the event. 

To Runjeet Singh, at any rate, the Koh-i-nur 
brought no misfortune. He wore it as a brace- 
let and it glittered on the old king's arm at 
many a Sikh durbar. 

On his deathbed, the Brahmans who sur- 
rounded Runjeet tried to induce him to offer up 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 105 

the great diamond to the image of Juggernaut. 
The covetous priests were willing to run the 
risk of any amount of baleful influences, pro- 
vided they could secure the Koh-i-nur as a fore- 
head jewel for their idol. Runjeet nodded his 
head, so the Brahmans averred; and on the 
strength of this dubious testamentary bequest 
they claimed the stone. The royal treasurer, 
however, less fearful of the wrath of the god 
than of that of the succeeding rajah, refused to 
give it up. 

Kurruck Singh wore this symbol of royalty 
for a brief space and then died of poison to 
make way for a usurper, Shere Singh. This un- 
lucky monarch was killed in a durbar as he sat 
on his throne in Lahore, and the Koh-i-nur was 
flashing in his turban at the very moment when 
the assassin aimed the treacherous shot. 

And now, last of all the Indian owners of 
the wonderful gem, we come to Dhuleep Singh, 
the infant son of Runjeet the Lion. It has been 
said that the Koh-i-nur belonged ever to the 



106 THE KOH-I-NUR. 

strong; it was scarcely probable therefore that 
it would remain for any length of time in the 
feeble grasp of this child. Indeed, his elevation 
upon the throne of Lahore was a signal for all 
sorts of intrigues and machinations on the part 
both of those who were in power and wished to 
keep it, and of those who were out of power 
but wished to acquire it. 

In the midst of all this turmoil a new and 
hardier race appears upon the scene. Lord 
Dalhousie annexes Lahore, and the English flag 
floats for the first time over the Koh-i-nur. 

In March, 1849, tne king of Lahore was for- 
mally deposed. The scene was short and busi- 
ness-like, very different from the stately Oriental 
silence between Runjeet Singh and Shah Shuja 
on the occasion of the last change of allegiance 
made by the fickle diamond. A crowd of 
natives, without arms or jewels, a few English 
officers, a man reading the proclamation in Hin- 
dustani, Persian and English, the boy-king af- 
fixing his seal to the paper with careless haste 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 107 

— that was all. The ancient kingdom of the 
Five Rivers ceased to exist, and its last king 
became an English gentleman with a large 
income. 

As a token of his submission, the deposed 
prince was to send the Koh-i-nur to the Queen 
of England. This was accordingly done, and 
the imperial gem of India passed to the crown of 
England, thus once more vindicating its tradi- 
tionary character. Again it has passed from 
the weak to the strong, from the conquered to 
the conqueror, but we may hope that it has left 
behind it in India all those baleful influences 
with which it has been credited. 

When it came to England in 1850 the Koh-i- 
nur was distinctly an Indian stone. It had a 
large flat top, irregular sides, and a multitude 
of tiny facets, besides which there were three 
distinct flaws. It was, moreover, lacking in 
light; being scarcely more brilliant than a piece 
of gray crystal. 

Yet, notwithstanding all these defects, it was 



108 THE KOIM-NUR. 

a deplorable want of taste and of historic sym- 
pathy which dictated the re-cutting of this unique 
gem. Professor King, an unimpeachable au- 
thority on diamonds and the proper mode of 
treating them, says with reference to this stone: 

" As a specimen of a gigantic diamond whose native 
weight and form had been as little as possible interfered 
with by art, it stood without rival, save the Orloff, in 
Europe. As it is, in the place of the most ancient gem 
in the history of the world, older even than the Tables of 
the Law, and the Breast Plate of Aaron, supposing them 
still to exist, we get a bad shaped, because unavoidably 
too shallow, modern brilliant ; a mere lady's bauble of but 
second water, for it has a greyish tinge, and besides this, 
inferior in weight to several, being now reduced to one 
hundred and two and one half carats." 

The operation of re-cutting the Koh-i-nur was 
a very delicate and dangerous one. A special 
engine and mill had to be erected for it and a 
special workman, Mr. Woorsanger, was brought 
for it from Amsterdam. The work was executed 
in the atelier of the Crown Jewels and superin- 
tended by the Garrard brothers. Much interest 



THE KOH-I-NUR. 109 

was excited by the process and many people of 
distinction visited the workshop. One of these 
visitors asked Mr. Garrard what he would do, 
supposing that the Koh-i-nur should fly to pieces 
during the cutting — a contingency that some 
had feared likely. Mr. Garrard answered : " I 
would take my name-plate off the door and 
bolt." 

The Prince Consort placed the diamond on 
the mill, and the Duke of Wellington gave a turn 
to the wheel. Thus launched, the work went 
on steadily, and at the end of thirty-eight days 
Mr. Woorsanger handed the new brilliant to his 
superiors. 

The cutting of the Regent took two years by 
the old handmill process, and it had no deep 
flaws to eradicate, as was the case with the 
Koh-i-nur. To grind out these flaws the wheel 
made no less than three thousand revolutions 
per minute. 

The Koh-i-nur still retains its Oriental narrie, 
though it has so »unfortunately been forced to 



IIO THE KOH-I-NUR. 

abandon its Oriental shape. It is now set in a 
brooch which the Queen wears upon all state 
occasions. It is kept at Windsor, so as to be at 
hand when wanted, and considerable interest in 
high quarters is required to get a sight of it. 
An exact model of it reposes in the jewel case 
of the Tower, alongside of the Crown, in order 
to gratify the curiosity of Her Majesty's subjects. 



V. 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 

* I ^HE diamond variously known as the 
■*- " French Blue," or the " Tavernier 
Blue," has had a singular destiny. 

Smaller by nearly eighty carats than the 
Orloff, and younger by three centuries than the 
Koh-i-nur, it is in some ways as remarkable as 
either of those famous stones. So far as is 
known, it was never the worshiped orb of an 
idol, nor the hardly-less worshiped bauble of 
an Eastern prince. Wars were not waged for 
it, nor were murders committed to obtain its 
possession. Indeed, its quaint commercial 
debut into history is somewhat tame, as is also its 
uneventful life of a century and a half in the 
treasure-chambers of the Crown of France. In 
fact, were it not for its strange color, its strange 
in 



112 THE FRENCH BLUE. 

loss and its yet stranger recovery, the French 
Blue would scarcely deserve a place among 
these " Stories about Famous Precious Stones." 
Jean Baptiste Tavernier is a name familiar to 
every one who has studied the history of precious 
stones. He was the son of an Antwerp geog- 
rapher settled in Paris, and early in life he 
evinced an ardent love of travel. Born in 1605, 
he had at the age of twenty-two traveled over 
most of Europe, and was acquainted with most 
European languages. In his own account of 
his travels he speaks entertainingly of the vari- 
ous reasons which at different times prompted 
him to journey. Having entered the service of 
the Duke of Mantua as captain of a company 
of soldiers, he attended that prince during the 
siege of Mantua. He was struck by two bullets 
which, though inflicting a troublesome wound, 
failed to kill him — thanks to the excellent tem- 
per of his cuirass ; whereupon he observes that 
" he found a longer stay at Mantua did not 
agree with his desire to travel." He made his 



THE FRENCH BLUE. II3 

way to the East carrying with him a vast quan- 
tity of cinque-cento* enamel work and jewelry, 
which he sold to the Asiatic sovereigns, and 
bringing back a number of precious stones 
which he sold to the kings of Europe. Jean 
Baptiste Tavernier was, in fact, a sort of ped- 
dler among princes. 

He made in all six journeys to India during 
the space of forty years, and amassed great 
wealth. Although a Protestant, he was enno- 
bled by Louis xiv. on account of the services 
he had rendered to French commerce, and he 
thereupon bought the barony of Aubonne in 
Switzerland which he afterwards sold to Du- 
quesne the great navigator. 

Louis xiv. was one of his best customers and 
bought from him jewels and rich stuffs to the 
enormous amount of three millions of francs ; 

* During the visit of the Prince of Wales to India a few years ago 
it was observed that some curious old jewels of Italian make appeared at 
the gorgeous pageants which the native princes ordered for the benefit 
of their future Emperor. It is thought that these were heirlooms 
dating from Tavernier's time. 



114 THE FRENCH BLUE. 

about six hundred thousand dollars. It was on 
his return from his last voyage, namely in 1668, 
that Tavernier sold the Blue Diamond to Louis 
xiv. Unfortunately he does not give- any par- 
ticulars of the purchase of this stone, which is 
singular as he was a very chatty writer and filled 
his book with a quantity of delightful little 
passages beginning " I remember once." He 
describes at great length the Eastern manner of 
buying and selling diamonds. Their methods 
seems greatly to have impressed him, accus- 
tomed as he was to the noisy bartering of 
European markets. 
He says : 

" Tis very pleasant to see the young children of the 
merchants (at the diamond mines) from the age of ten to 
sixteen years, who seat themselves upon a tree that lies 
in an open space of the town (Raolconda, a diamond 
region near Golconda). Every one of them has his diamond- 
weight in a little bag hanging on one side and his purse 
with five or six hundred pagods in it. There they sit 
waiting for any one to come and sell them some diamonds. 
If any one brings them a stone they put it into the hand 
of the eldest boy among them who is, as it were, their 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 115 

chief ; who looks upon it and after that gives it to him 
that is next him, by which means it goes from hand to 
hand till it returns back to him again, none of the rest 
speaking a word. After that he demands the price so as 
to buy it if possible, but if he buy it too dear it is upon his 
own account. In the evening the children compute what 
they have laid out ; then they look upon the stones and 
separate them according to their water, their weight and 
their clearness. Then they bring them to the large mer- 
chants who have generally great parcels to match, and 
the profit is divided among the children equally. Only 
the chief among them has four per cent, more than the 
rest." 



It may have been from some such sedate chil- 
dren that Tavernier bought the Blue Diamond. 
At the same time he mentions the Coleroon mine 
as the only one which produces colored dia- 
monds, from which we may infer that " the 
Blue " hails from that locality. As Tavernier 
was well-known as a diamond-buyer who gave 
good prices, it is probable that he would get 
many proffers of stones from private persons. 
With regard to another large diamond which he 
bought in India, he has given a minute account 



Il6 THE FRENCH ELUE. 

of the transaction which may be taken as a fair 
sample of Asiatic bartering : 

" One day towards evening a Banian badly dressed, 
who had nothing on but a cloth around his loins and a 
nasty kerchief on his head, saluted me civilly and 
came and sat down beside me. In that country (India) 
no heed is given to the clothes. A man with nothing 
but a dirty piece of calico around his body may all the 
same have a good lot of diamonds concealed. On my 
side, therefore, I was civil to the Banian and after he had 
been some time seated he asked me through my inter- 
preter if I would buy some rubies. The interpreter said 
he must show them to me, whereupon he pulled a little 
rag from his waist-cloth in which were twenty ruby 
rings. I said they were too small a thing for me as 
I only sought for large stones. Nevertheless, remember- 
ing that I had a commission from a lady in Ispahan to 
buy her a ruby ring for a hundred crowns, I bought 
one for four hundred francs. I knew well that it was 
worth only three hundred, but I chanced the other hun- 
dred in the belief that he had not come to me for that alone. 
Judging from his manner that he would gladly be alone 
with me and my interpreter in order to show me some- 
thing better, I sent away my four servants to fetch some 
bread from the fortress. Being thus alone with the 
Banian, after much ado he took off his turban and un- 
twisted his hair which was coiled around his head. Then 
I saw come from beneath his hair a scrap of linen in 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 117 

which was wrapped up a diamond weighing forty-eight 
and a half carats, of beautiful water, in form of a carbu- 
chon,* two thirds of the stone clear except a small patch 
on one side which seemed to penetrate the stone. The 
fourth quarter was all cracks and red spots. As I was 
examining the stone the Banian, seeing my close atten- 
tion, said : ' Don't amuse yourself with looking at it now. 
You will see it to-morrow alone at your leisure. When 
a quarter of the day is passed,' 'tis thus they speak, 'you 
will find me outside the town, and if you want the stone 
you will bring me the money.' And he told me the sum 
he wanted for it. I did not fail to go to him and bring 
him the required sum, with the exception of two hundred 
pagods which I put aside, but which after a dispute I had 
to give him also. At my return to Surat I sold the stone 
to a Dutch captain out of whom I had an honest profit." 

This last remark suggests the reason why 
Tavernier did not mention the sum demanded by 
the Banian for his diamond. Possibly the long- 
headed peddler feared that had he stated the 
amounts his readers might not have deemed his 
profit quite so honest. Can this be the reason, 
moreover, of his total silence regarding the 

*This is probably a misuse of the word, as " carbuchons," namely 
polished globules, are never made of diamonds ; a rose is what was 
meant and one of Tavernier's editors made a mistake. 



i8 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 



purchase of the Blue Diamond ? It seems the 
fate of this stone to come from out of the Un- 
known in a mysterious fashion. We shall meet 
it, appearing suddenly and without a history. 

Tavernier gives three drawings of this Blue 
Diamond, which was, he said, clear and of a lovely 
violet hue, and its weight in the rough was one 

hundred and 
twelve and one 
quarter carats. 
There is no oth- 
er example of a 
blue diamond of 
this deep tint 
known — a fact 
which went far 
to establish the identity of the Blue Diamond in 
aftertimes. Diamonds of all the colors which 
belong of right to other precious stones are 
occasionally found. Thus they are red, green, 
yellow, and blue. The first and last named 
tints being the rarest, while the yellow is de- 




TAVERNIER'S BLUE DIAMOND. 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 119 

cidedly common. The true diamond, however, 
no matter what may be its hue, has an 
iridescent brightness which no other gem can 
counterfeit. This iridescence, coupled with its 
hardness, forms the test of the diamond ; and 
its absence never fails to reveal the nature 
of an impostor. If anything can scratch a 
stone, that stone is not a diamond. The 
writer, in common with 
all her schoolmates, once 
bestowed a great deal of 
admiration and no small 
portion of envy upon a 
young companion on the the " hope blue " 

DIAMOND. 

strength of that young 

companion's diamond, a lustrous gem of most 
remarkable size. Alas ! our admiration was 
undeserved and our envy misplaced. That 
splendid diamond had upon its upper surface 
three deep scratches ! 

But to return. When Louis xiv. bought from 
Tavernier at, we will say, an " honest profit " to 




120 THE FRENCH BLUE. 

the seller, that three millions' worth of precious 
stuffs and stones, he became possessed of the 
Blue Diamond. This was in 1668 when the 
king was in the full tide of his glory, and also 
of his extravagance, conquering provinces, build- 
ing palaces and buying gems. 

There seems to be no record of the first cut- 
ting of the Blue Diamond, if indeed it was cut 
at all during the reign of the " Grand Mon- 
arque." And what is still more strange, it 
seems to have attracted very little attention, its 
heaven-blue tint being perhaps somewhat 
dimmed by the more striking splendor of the 
Regent which ere long was to attract all eyes 
and absorb all attention. 

In 1776, fourteen hundred and seventy-one 
diamonds belonging to the French crown were 
sold, and the money thus obtained was used in 
re-cutting the remainder besides adding sundry 
other jewels to the Regalia. In February, 1788, 
the Antwerp Gazette makes known to the world 
that there had just been completed in that city 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 121 

a work of great magnitude. This was the re-cut- 
ting into brilliants of all the rose-diamonds , 
belonging to the King of France. The reader 
will remember that " roses " are diamonds cov- 
ered over with facets, such as the Orloff, while 
the brilliant properly so-called is a double pyra- 
mid, a highly refracting figure, of which the 
Regent and the Koh-i-nur are examples. 

Diamond cutting was a lost art in France ; 
hence the reason of sending the gems to Ant- 
werp. Cardinal Mazarin, a great diamond 
fancier, had endeavored to stimulate diamond- 
cutting in Paris. He had imported workmen 
and wheels and then had caused his own stones 
and those of the king to be cut. When this 
was done, and further diamonds not being forth- 
coming, in order to still encourage his pet indus- 
try he had the same stones cut a second time ! 
Such expensive encouragement of the diamond- 
cutting trade has probably never been heard of 
before or since. 

The Antwerp artists having accomplished 



122 THE FRENCH BLUE. 

their task to the satisfaction of Louis xvi., " he 
rewarded with presents, magnificent and really 
worthy of a King of France, all those who had 
a hand in it." The Blue Diamond came forth 
from the hands of the cutter an irregularly- 
shaped brilliant of a drop form weighing sixty- 
seven and one half carats. 

In 1 79 1, it was entered in the inventory of 
the Crown Jewels, which was drawn up by order 
of the Constituent Assembly, at the high valua- 
tion of six hundred thousand dollars. It will 
be thus seen that it had enormously increased 
in value since its " rough " days, for then the 
Blue Diamond as well as all the other diamonds 
and precious stuffs were bought from Tavernier 
for that precise amount. 

In the story of " the Regent " an account was 
given of the robbery of the Garde Meuble in 
September, 1792, when the French jewels were 
stolen. The Blue Diamond shared the fate of 
all the rest. It was stolen, but unfortunately it 
was not found in that mysterious Allee des 




THE FRENCH BLUE. 1 23 

Veuves where the Regent lay hidden. In fact, 
Tavernier's Blue Diamond, weighing sixty-seven 
carats, never again re-appeared as such. Men 
had something else to think of in France besides 
diamonds during the forty years which followed 
the great robbery, so that the very existence of 
a blue diamond was pretty nearly 
forgotten. True that John 
Mane, a fairly reliable authority 
on diamonds, says that "There « Brunswick ; ' 

, N BLUE DIAMOND. 

is at this time (18 13) a superla- 
tively fine blue diamond of above forty-four carats 
in the possession of an individual in London 
which may be considered as matchless and of 
course of arbitrary value." This is a most im- 
portant statement, and in the light of subse- 
quent investigations it would point almost 
conclusively to the fact that the French Blue, 
already metamorphosed, was in alien hands, 
except for the fact that the same writer a lit- 
tle further on makes the announcement of a 
Blue Diamond, weight sixty-seven carats, being 



124 THE FRENCH BLUE. 

amongst the Crown Jewels of France at the 
same moment. 

However this may be, suddenly, in 1830, the 
small world of diamond-worshipers was startled 
by the appearance in the market of a unique 
stone. A deep blue diamond, forty-four and one 
fourth carats, which Mr. Daniel Eliason had for 
sale and about which he could give no details. 
It sprang suddenly upon the world without a 
history, unless indeed it be the same as that 
mentioned by Mane some eighteen years before 
— and yet it was a cut and polished brilliant. 
Its form was irregular, for it had one very flat 
side. Mr. Henry Philip Hope bought it for 
ninety thousand dollars; and it henceforward 
became known as the " Hope Blue." 

As a notable gem in a famous private col- 
lection the Hope Blue enjoyed for years a quiet 
distinction. It was set round about with pearls 
and white diamonds to enhance its azure and 
had a beautiful pearl-drop for pendant. Alto- 
gether it was a neat and delightful trinket ; price 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 1 25 

one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Little or 
nothing was thought about it until the death of 
the Duke of Brunswick, the mad diamond-miser 
who used to sleep surrounded with mechanical 
pistols which were warranted to go off with such 
fatal facility that it is a marvel they did not 
shoot his Grace in mistake for a burglar. In 
1874, the Brunswick diamonds came to the 
hammer and amongst them a blue stone of six 
carats weight. Mr. Streeter, than whom there 
exists no better authority on diamonds, had this 
stone and the Hope Blue put into his hands 
together. He found that they were identical in 
color and quality, that the sides of cleavage 
matched as nearly as could be determined after 
the cutting, while the united weights plus the 
calculated less from re-cutting amounted to the 
weight of the French Blue. He immediately 
drew the very natural conclusion that both these 
stones were once united and formed the Blue 
Diamond brought from India by Tavernier. 
He, it will be remembered, called it of a " lovely 



126 THE FRENCH ELUE. 

violet "and as only very few other blue diamonds 
are known to be in existence, and they are all 
of a pale blue tint, we must admit that the weight 




"hope blue" diamond, as mounted. 

of evidence hangs strongly in favor of Mr. 
Streeter's reasoning. 

The collection of the late Mr. Hope was a 

very large and valuable one. Of course the bins 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 1 27 

diamond was its chief glory, but it contained 
other gems of value. A portion of these were 
recently offered for sale consisting of diamonds, 
sapphires, opals and pearls, set and unset, and 
of rings, crosses and bracelets of all sorts of 
shapes and patterns. The display reminded 
one of a jeweller's show-case except for this 
remarkable difference. There were no two 
objects alike, and all showed the refined taste 
of an amateur rather than the massive showi- 
ness of the mere commercial jewel. 

Mr. Hope engaged an eminent jeweller, Mr. 
Hertz, at an eminent fee (five thousand dollars) 
to catalogue his jewels. This gentleman per- 
formed his task with business-like succinctness, 
using no unnecessary words to describe the 
numerous precious objects. But when he 
reached the Blue Diamond he launches out 
into unbridled enthusiasm. He says : 

" This matchless gem combines the beautiful color of the 
sapphire with the prismatic fire and brilliancy of the dia- 
mond, and on account of its extraordinary color, great 



128 THE FRENCH BLUE. 

size and other fine qualities it certainly may be called 
unique, as we may presume there exists no cabinet nor 
any collection of crown jewels in the world which can 
boast of the possession of so curious and fine a gem as 
the one we are now describing, and we expect to be 
borne out in our opinion by our readers. There are 
extant historical records and treatises on the precious 
gems which give us descriptions of all the extraordinary 
diamonds in the possession of all the crowned heads of 
Europe as well as of the princes of the Eastern countries. 
But in vain do we search for any record of a gem which 
can in point of curiosity, beauty and perfection be com- 
pared with this blue brilliant, etc." 



Mr. Hertz was no doubt a good jeweller and 
a clever expert, but he was not very learned in 
the history of precious stones or he could never 
have made this astonishing statement. He had 
only to search in the records of France to find 
the account of a wonderful blue diamond of 
even greater size. 

With regard to the value of the diamond, he 
declares his inability to fix any sum, saying : 
"There being no precedent the value cannot be 
established by comparison. The price which 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 1 29 

was once asked for this diamond was thirty 
thousand pounds (one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars) but we must confess for the above stated 
reason that it might have been estimated at 
even a higher sum." There was a precedent 
for estimating its value ; but of that Mr. Hertz 
was ignorant. The French Blue was valued at 
three millions of livres (six hundred thousand 
dollars) when it weighed sixty-seven carats. 
"According to this calculation one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars was not an excessive price 
to put upon the Hope Blue of forty-four carats. 

The Hope Blue still remains in the posses- 
sion of the family which has given it that name, 
while the other fraction of the dissevered French 
Blue is likewise in private hands. This is much 
to be regretted from the historian's point of 
view, for famous diamonds acquire a great deal 
of their value and all their interest from the per- 
sons who have owned them. For a gem which 
has graced the royal festivities of Versailles as 
the Blue Diamond has done, or enhanced the 



*3° 



THE FRENCH BLUE. 



stately ceremonials of the Escurial as was the 
case with the Pelegrina, to sink into obscurity 
in the collection of a wealthy Mr. Unknown or 
in the jewel casket of a Princess Nobody is a 
sad decadence. Jewels, from their value and 
indestructibleness, are among the few objects 
used by the illustrious dead which can and do 
remain unaltered in appearance, therefore it is 
contrary to our sense of the fitness of things for 
a historical gem to cease to be such by belong- 
ing to a person without a history. 



VI. 



THE BRAGANZA. 



IF the stone which is known by the name of 
the " Braganza," or the " Regent of Portu- 
gal," is a diamond, it is undoubtedly the largest 
that was ever found in either ancient or modern 
times. But then it is by no means certain that 
it is a diamond at all. It would be quite easy 
to establish the fact by submitting the stone 
to the examination of experts, but apparently 
the Royal House of Portugal holds that the 
Braganza, like Caesar's wife, should be above 
suspicion. At all events the fact remains that 
this monster diamond has never been seen by any 
independent expert whose judgment would be 
accepted without appeal. When the learned 
are in doubt it would ill become us to decide ; 
therefore, without offering an opinion, we shall, 
*3 l 



I32 THE BRAGANZA. 

provisionally at least, class the Braganza among 
the diamonds of this series ; and when its true 
character is established beyond dispute we shall 
know whether to call it the Monarch of Diamonds 
or only a vulgar impostor. 

The stated weight of the Braganza reaches 
the astounding figure of one thousand six hun- 
dred and eighty carats. Of course this is in its 
rough state, for the giant gem has refused to 
trust itself to the hands of any cutter however 
skillful. Yet this weight exceeds by more than 
double the weight, in the rough, of the next 
largest diamond known to history, namely, the 
Great Mogul. When we think of the price of 
the Regent — over six hundred thousand dollars, 
while weighing onlv four hundred and ten carats 
in the rough — and then turn to the Braganza 
with its sixteen hundred carats, the mind staggers 
before the money-value thus suggested. 

All the other famous diamonds of which we 
have treated have been Asiatic ; but the Braganza, 
like the Pelegrina Pearl, hails from the New 



THE BRAGANZA. 133 

World. Consequently its history does not reach 
back into those misty past ages whither we went 
groping after the Orloff and the Koh-i-nur. The 
Braganza is a diamond of yesterday, hence the 
account of its finding is clear, minute and accu- 
rate. 

Here it is. The speaker is Joseph Mawe, a 
geologist, merchant and traveler who visited 
Brazil in the first decade of this century and 
whose book on the countries which he saw 
is our best authority on that part of South 
America. 



" A few leagues to the north of the Rio Prata is a 
rivulet named Abaite, celebrated for having produced the 
largest diamond in the Prince's possession, which was 
found about twelve years ago (namely 1797). It may 
be allowed me in this place to relate the particulars as 
they were detailed to me during my stay at Tejuco. Three 
intelligent men having been found guilty of high crimes 
were banished into the interior, and ordered not to ap- 
proach any of the capital towns or to remain in civilized 
society on pain of perpetual imprisonment. Driven by 
this hard sentence into the most unfrequented part of the 
country, they endeavored to explore new mines or new 



134 THE BRAGANZA. 

productions in the hope that sooner or later they might 
have the good fortune to make some important discovery, 
which would obtain a reversal of their sentence and enable 
them to regain their station in society. They wandered 
about in this neighborhood, making frequent searches, in 
its various rivers, for more than six years, during which 
time they were exposed to a double risk, being continually 
liable to become the prey of the Anthropophagi, and in 
no less danger of being seized by the soldiers of the 
Government. At length by hazard they made some trials 
in the river Abaite at a time when its waters were so low, 
in consequence of a long season of drought, that a part 
of its bed was left exposed. Here while searching and 
washing for gold they had the good fortune to find a 
diamond nearly an ounce in weight.* 

" Elated by this providential discovery which at first they 
could scarcely believe to be real, yet hesitating between a 
dread of the rigorous laws relating to diamonds and a hope 
of regaining their liberty, they consulted a clergyman, who 
advised them to trust to the mercy of the State, and accom- 
panied them to Villa Rica where he procured them access 
to the Governor. ) They threw themselves at his feet and 
delivered to him the invaluable gem, on which their hopes 
rested, relating all the circumstances connected with it. 
The Governor astonished at its magnitude could not trust 
the evidence of his senses, but called the officers of the 

* " This is either a misprint or a gross mistake. For as there are 
one hundred and fifty carats to the ounce it would be more correct to 
say ' nearly a pound in weight.' " 



THE BRAGANZA. 



*35 



establishment to decide whether it was a diamond, who 
set the matter beyond all doubt. Being thus by the most 
strange and unforeseen accident put in possession of .the 
largest diamond ever found in America, he thought proper 
to suspend the sentence of the men as a reward for their 
having delivered it to him. The gem was sent to Rio de 
Janeiro, from whence a frigate was dispatched with it to 
Lisbon, whither the holy father was also sent to make 
the proper representations respecting it. The sovereign 
confirmed the pardon of the delinquents and bestowed 
some preferment on the worthy sacerdote." 

Such was the finding of the Braganza about 
ninety years ago. 

The Prince referred to in Mawe's account, 
was John vi., who, in 1792, was declared Regent 
owing to the mental derangement of the Queen 
Maria Isabella, his mother. He was a great 
diamond-collector, not so much from love of the 
glittering gems themselves as for the wealth they 
represented. As Brazil was rich in diamonds, 
and as all the proceeds from the mines were 
submitted to His Highness before being sent 
out of the country, he had ample opportunity of 
forming an extremely good collection. Accord- 



I36 THE BRAGANZA. 

ing to Mawe it was the Regent's practice to 
retain for himself all the large stones, with the 
result that his treasure-chests contained the 
most splendid collection of diamonds known in 
modern times. 

In 1809, Napoleon, by one of those pithy 
orders of the day which so delighted his armies, 
declared that "the house of Braganza had ceased 
to reign," and the house of Braganza forthwith 
proceeded to give truth to the declaration by 
withdrawing itself from Portugal. On Novem- 
ber 9, John vi., the former regent, who had 
become king upon his afflicted mother's death, 
sailed for Rio Janeiro. And he remained there 
until 182 1, when the clamors of his European 
subjects compelled him very reluctantly to come 
back to them. 

It is probable that in this not over-valiant 
flight to safer climes King John carried the 
Braganza back to its native land. But whether 
in Lisbon or Rio Janeiro the Braganza was 
more a wonderful legend than an actual stone, 






THE BRAGANZA. 



'37 



for it was always kept secluded in the strongest 
safe of the Treasure Chamber. The Prince 
showed some of his diamonds to Mawe, but 
the latter in an emphatic foot-note says "I did 
not see this diamond (the Braganza) when in 
Brazil." On gala days John wore the royal gem 
around his neck, and for the purpose of suspen- 
sion it had a small hole drilled through the top. 
A large rough diamond nearly a pound in weight, 
hanging from the neck by a string of gold, would 
seem to our thinking to be rather a barbaric 
ornament for a civilized monarch to wear. 

The diamond mines of Brazil, which were 
discovered in 1727, yielded an extraordinarily 
rich harvest during the first years of tillage. In 
1732, no less than eleven thousand ounces of 
these precious stones were shipped from Rio 
to Lisbon. But this influx of diamonds created 
something like a panic among the merchants of 
Europe, and to save their precious goods from 
a disastrous fall in price they formed a league 
of defamation. All kinds of reports were cir- 



138 THE BRAGANZA. 

culated about the new comers — that they were 
defective, that they were ill-colored and finally 
that they were not diamonds at all. These 
reports gained belief, and purchasers refused to 
buy the Brazilian gems. The malicious libels 
of the European merchants were cleverly de- 
feated by the crafty Portuguese. Since Europe 
would have none but Indian diamonds Brazil 
must needs furnish none other. The diamonds 
from Sierra do Frio were secretly conveyed to 
the Indo-Portuguese settlement of Goa ; then 
they were sent inland, made up in the recog- 
nized Indian style as parcels of Oriental gems, 
and thus doctored they appeared in Paris and 
London. There a credulous public eagerly 
bought them up at the high prices due to un- 
doubted Indian diamonds. Once the western 
gems were fairly accepted, the Portuguese threw 
off the mask, no doubt laughing heartily at the 
stupidity of the out-witted merchants, and Bra- 
zilians are now treated as fair and honorable 
diamonds. All that is to say except the tremen- 



THE BRAGANZA. 139 

dous Braganza which is persistently sneered at 
and doubted by many writers. 

Mawe describes at great length the diamond 
diggings of his day, and as human nature varies 
little, it is probable that his picture would be 
recognized even now as a truthful likeness of 
those localities and their inhabitants. He says 
that, notwithstanding the rich produce of the 
ground the inhabitants are mostly poor and 
wretched. Many of them drag out their lives 
in misery and idleness in the hope, which is 
never realized, of one day finding a great dia- 
mond which shall make them rich and happy 
forever. The actual work is done by slaves 
under the eye of overseers, who are supposed 
to be of unimpeachable integrity and sleepless 
vigilance. The traveler gives some astonish- 
ing details by which the measure of the 
former quality may be taken. He observes 
that as the produce of the mines was all Gov- 
ernment property and there being the severest 
laws against smuggling, he expected to see (at 



140 THE BRAGANZA. 

the mining district) no gems except those in 
the official treasury. This expectation however 
was quickly dispelled, for he found diamonds to 
be the current coin of the place. Even the 
mere word grimpiero (smuggler) seemed to throw 
the inhabitants into a sort of fit; they writhed 
about, smote their breasts, called upon the Vir- 
gin and all the Saints to bear witness to their 
horror of this the greatest sin possible to a 
human being. Yet they all smuggled diamonds, 
from the slave at the washing-trough to the 
priest officiating at the altar. Mawe, who had 
considerable influence at court, was the first 
mere traveler who ever visited the mines, and 
it is probable that he was the only person who 
ever went there without smuggling. He remarks 
that he found it safer to see nothing of that 
which passed under his very nose. 

In order to encourage honesty among the slaves, 
the finders of large diamonds were rewarded in 
different degrees according to the size of the 
stone. The finder of an octavo (seventeen and 



THE BRAGANZA. 141 

one half carats) was crowned with a wreath of 
flowers and carried in procession to the admin- 
istrator who gave him his freedom and two new 
suits of clothes. The fortunate negro, moreover, 
then received permission to work in the mines on 
his own account. 

During Mawe's stay at Tejuco a negro found 
a very large diamond, which with much eager- 
ness he took to be weighed. 

" It was pleasing to see the anxious desire of the officers 
that it might prove heavy enough to entitle the poor negro 
to his freedom, and when on being delivered and weighed 
it proved only one carat short of the requisite weight all 
seemed to sympathize in his disappointment." 

Even now after all these years one cannot 
help feeling regret for the high hopes of that 
humble slave so sadly blighted. But those who 
build their fortunes on diamonds are sometimes 
bitterly disappointed. Harken to this anecdote 
from the pen of the same traveler in Brazil. He 
was waiting for an escort to the mines and had 
meditated taking a couple of soldiers, when 



I42 THE BRAGANZA. 

a singular occurrence furnished him with two 
miners who were appointed to attend him, 
and whose conduct he pleasantly says deserved 
every commendation. A free negro from Villa 
do Principe, some mine hundred miles from 
Rio Janeiro, wrote to the Prince Regent that 
he had in his possession an amazingly large 
diamond which had been bequeathed to him by 
a friend. The negro was desirous of personally 
offering it to the Prince whose fondness for 
diamonds was pretty well known. The Prince 
commanded the negro to come to the capital 
immediately, and as the recognized owner of an 
immense diamond must not travel meanly, he 
had a carriage and escort given to him. After 
twenty-eight days of traveling, during which 
time he was the envied of all beholders, he 
arrived at Rio Janeiro and was straightway 
brought to the palace and speedily thereafter 
into the presence of the Regent. His High- 
ness, well accustomed to large gems, since he 
used to wear the Braganza around his neck, 



THE BRAGANZA. 143 

was nevertheless astonished at the size of this 
new diamond. Everybody stood with bated 
breath to hear what he would say, while a few 
clever ones estimated its value in unheard-of 
millions. A round diamond was of itself an 
almost miraculous thing, nobody having ever 
heard of the like before. 

However, it was sent under guard to the 
treasury, and the next day Mawe was invited 
to inspect the great novelty and to give his 
opinion upon it as a geologist. Armed with 
letters and permits the distinguished stranger 
went to the treasury and was solemnly introduced 
into its innermost recesses. He was politely 
received by the treasurer who explained every- 
thing to him, showing him the jewel-chests each 
fitted with three locks, the three keys of which 
were held by three different officials. 

" One of these chests being unlocked an elegant little 
cabinet was taken out from which the treasurer took the 
gem and in great form presented it to me. Its value 
sunk at the first sight, for before I touched it I was con- 



144 THE BRAGANZA. 

vinced that it was a rounded piece of crystal. It was 
about an inch and a half in diameter. On examining it I 
told the governor it was not a diamond, and to convince 
him I took a diamond of five or six carats and with it cut 
a very deep nick in the stone. This was proof positive. 
A certificate was accordingly made out stating that it was 
an inferior substance of little or no value, which I signed." 

Then the geologist went home and wrote a 
letter setting forth this unwelcome fact as deli- 
cately as he could, for he knew that his letter 
would be shown to His Highness, and it is-at all 
times an uncomfortable task to tell disagreeable 
news to a king. However the Prince Regent 
was high-minded enough not to be angry with 
him. But great was the disappointment of the 
unlucky negro. For years he had been build- 
ing hopes upon that round diamond, and now 
to see them vanish before the geologist's" deep 
nick" was trying indeed. Instead of being 
feted and feasted and loaded with rewards, he 
returned home unescorted and empty-handed 
to be possibly laughed at by those very persons 
who had formerly envied him. 



THE BRAGANZA. 1 45 

As a set-off to the deep disappointment suffered 
on account of this supposed diamond we may 
mention the finding of another South American 
stone which was attended with far different 
results. A negress working at the mines of 
Minas-Geraes in 1853 picked up in her trough 
a stone two hundred and fifty-four and one 
half carats in weight, which proving to be an 
undoubted diamond obtained freedom for the 
woman, and afterwards a life-pension. Her 
master sold the diamond for fifteen thousand 
dollars, and the buyer immediately obtained 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it. 
After being cut by Voorsanger, the same work- 
man who manipulated the Koh-i-nur, it proved 
to be a white stone of uncommon beauty and 
lustre. Under the name of the Estrella do Sud # 

* The naming of diamonds is an art wherein there may lie fitness as 
well as unfitness. Historic stones frequently bear the name of their first 
well-known owner, as for example the " Regent," the " Orloff," the 
" Braganza," and many others. Again they may bear names indicative 
of their character as " Austrian Yellow," " Dresden Green," " French 
Blue," or yet again their names may be purely fanciful. Of this latter 
class there are numerous examples. The above " Estrella do Sud " is 



146 THE BRAGANZA. 

(Star of the South) it attracted much attention 
from amateurs and was eventually bought by an 
Indian rajah for one hundred and forty thousand 
dollars. 

Notwithstanding the lofty attitude of judicial 
impartiality which we endeavored to assume at 
the beginning of this article, a lurking suspicion 
remains in our mind that had the Braganza, like 
the round stone before described, been sub- 
jected to the keen scrutiny of Mawe's scientific 
eyes, it would no longer be classed among the 
most remarkable diamonds of Europe. 

Considerable difference of opinion exists as 
to the fate of the Braganza after King John's 
death. Did he give it to Don Miguel his second 
son ? or was it a crown jewel and as such did it 
devolve upon Don Pedro the eldest along with 

one, the " Koh-i-nGr " is another. When fanciful names are given we 
hold emphatically that they should always be in the language of the 
person who bestows it. As a historian we protest against needlessly 
confusing the already intricate annals of diamonds by giving to Ameri- 
can gems fine names fetched from Persia. The largest diamond found in 
the United States weighed in the rough twenty-three and three fourths 
carats and rejoices in the appellation of Oninoor (Sea of Light J 



THE BRAGANZA. 1 47 

the kingdom of Portugal? Don Pedro preferred 
the young empire of Brazil to the old kingdom 
of Portugal, which he gave to his little daughter 
Donna Maria da Gloria for whom he contracted 
that unnatural marriage with his own brother. 
The house of Braganza was divided against 
itself for many years during the first quarter of 
this century and very nearly came to destruc- 
tion thereby. The diamond which goes by the 
family name did not meddle in these politics, 
but lived in modest retirement, wherein it differs 
remarkably from the other diamonds with which 
we have already become acquainted. 

Indeed the Braganza stone leads so secluded 
a life that its very form is not distinctly known, 
but is said to be octahedral, a type of crys- 
tallization frequently met with in diamonds and 
topazes. Its color is likewise subject to varia- 
tion ; some writers declare it to be white, and 
others again aver that it is deep yellow. As 
to its valuation — that is mere guess-work under 
the circumstances of ignorance in which we all 



I48 THE BRAGANZA. 

flounder. Rome Delisle raises his estimate to 
the enormous figure of fifteen hundreds of mil- 
lions of dollars, while Jeffries lowers his to the 
more modest sum of twenty-five millions. Even 
this latter amount is a good deal to be locked 
up in so small an article as a stone eleven 
ounces in weight. 



VII. 

THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

TO give a full account of this precious stone 
would almost involve the writing of the 
history of England from the reign of Edward in. 
down to the present time. We shall therefore 
limit ourselves to a few of the most striking 
scenes in which the Ruby figured. 

Though differing much in appearance — the 
one being red and the other blue — the ruby 
and the sapphire are, chemically speaking, the 
same, viz. pure alumina. The perfect ruby is 
very rare and more valuable, size for size, than 
the diamond. It is tested in a curious manner. 
If it exactly agrees in tint with the fresh blood 
of a pigeon dropped upon the same sheet of 
white paper on which it lies, it is pronounced 
perfect. A stone of such beauty and rarity was 
149 



150 THE BLACK PRINCES RUBY. 

of course supposed to be endowed with miracu- 
lous powers and affinities by the ancients ; as, 
for instance, "the Osculan," dedicated by the 
Lady Hildegarde to St. Adelbert of Egmund. 
Of this stone, says a sixteenth-century writer : 

" In the night-time it so lighted up the entire chapel 
on all sides that it served instead of lamps for the reading 
of the Hours late at night, and would have served the 
same purpose to the present day, had not the hope of 
gain caused it to be stolen by a runaway Benedictine 
monk, the most greedy creature that ever went on two 
legs." 

The Black Prince's Ruby is only by courtesy 
called a ruby. It is in reality a " spinel," a 
stone of inferior hardness and less intense color 
and brilliancy than the true ruby. All the large 
historic stones which are called rubies are de- 
clared by Mr. King to be undoubted spinels. 
There is yet another class of rubies of an inferior 
type known as "balais," a name probably derived 
from the place in India whence they came. The 
inferior ruby is found in all parts of the world ; 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 151 

but Burmah is the home of the true ruby, a region 
that has just been added to the widely-spreading 
empire of the British Queen. 

In the middle of the fourteenth century Spain 
was ruled by a number of petty kings whose 
wars, assassinations and executions leave a gen- 
eral impression of bloodiness upon the mind 
by which all distinct detail is engulfed. It is 
essential however to remember that Granada 
was ruled by a Moorish prince, Mohammed by 
name, and Castile owned for Lord Don Pedro, 
the Cruel by title. The Moorish Mohammed, 
an easy-going personage, was dethroned by his 
brother-in-law Abu Said. Flying for his life, 
he escaped to Seville and threw himself upon 
the mercy of this Pedro the Cruel. This monarch 
espoused the cause of his kingly neighbor, and 
after several defeats the usurper thought it best 
to come to Seville and arrange a peace with his 
foe. Abu Said accordingly repaired to the capi- 
tal of Don Pedro accompanied by a numerous 
and most magnificent suite. He was politely 



152 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

received, but the next day, by Don Pedro's 
order, Abu Said and all his attendants were set 
upon and murdered. This was done for the 
sake of the Moorish prince's jewels which were 
many and valuable. Among the treasures thus 
evilly acquired was the Ruby now set in the 
crown of England. 

Though enriched by this spoil, Don Pedro 
soon felt the instability of human greatness, 
and in his turn had to fly for his life. His 
adversary was his own brother, Henry, the son 
of the beautiful and unfortunate Leonora de 
Guzman. This Henry raised a goodly army for 
himself composed for the most part of Gascon 
mercenaries, and he had for counselor and 
captain the famous French knight, Bertrand 
Duguesclin. Against such a foe Don Pedro 
could make no stand, so he hurried to Bor- 
deaux, where the Black Prince along with his 
wife Joan, called the Fair Maid of Kent, was 
keeping his Christmas in right royal style. This 
was in 1366. Don Pedro promised untold treas- 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 153 

ures to the Black Prince if he would come to his 
aid. Tempted by such bait, the Black Prince 
led his troops into Spain, fought for Don Pedro 
and conquered Henry for him at the battle of 
Najera on April 3, 1367. 

This was the first, but unhappily not the last, 
battle-field on which English and French slaught- 
ered each other for the sake of a Spanish tyrant. 

Overjoyed at this success Don Pedro pre- 
sented to his deliverer then and there the splen- 
did Ruby in order to get which he had murdered 
Abu Said. Immediately afterwards he went off 
to Seville to collect the rest of the promised 
treasure. So he said at least, but the treasure 
never came, and the Black Prince, after losing 
half his army from sickness, was obliged to quit 
Spain without other payment than the Ruby. 
He wore the gem in his hat, as an original and 
contemporaneous picture of him which Walpole 
saw testifies. It is said that in the fever-stricken 
plains of the Peninsula the Black Prince inhaled 
the germs of the disease which a few years after- 



154 THE BLACK PRINCES RUBY. 

wards carried him to the grave. The Ruby, 
large and splendid though it be, was dearly 
bought at such a price. Don Pedro was stabbed 
to the heart a few years afterwards by his vic- 
torious brother Henry, as he knelt before him 
praying for mercy. Here the curtain falls upon 
the first scene in the drama of our Ruby. 

It rises again on the field of Agincourt, October 
25, 1415. Henry v. of England, with his army 
reduced to fifteen thousand men, was falling back 
upon Calais from Harfleur when at Agincourt 
he encountered the French king and his nobility 
followed by an army of nearly fifty thousand 
men. The night before the battle Henry spent 
in disposing his forces to the best advantage, 
and on the morning he arrayed himself with a 
gorgeousness which has been commented upon 
by all contemporary writers. It was the fashion 
for kings to go splendidly into battle, and for a 
handsome young king of twenty-five like Henry 
it was only natural that he should follow such 
a fashion to the fullest. His armor was gilt- 



THE BLACK PRINCE S RUBY. 155 

embossed, but his helmet was the theme of 
especial praise. The useful iron head-piece 
was surmounted by a rich crown garnished with 
rubies, sapphires and pearls valued then at six 
hundred and seventy-five pounds.* In this 
glittering ornament the Black Prince's Ruby 
was a conspicuous feature. During the fight 
the king and his shining crown were to be seen 
in all parts of the field where the battle raged 
hottest. He fought like a lion for his life, unlike 
the kings of modern times who, if present at all, 
sit afar off and view the battle-field safely through 
telescopes. 

Henry's crown and stout iron casque did him 
good service on that eventful day, for it is related 
how the French Prince, the Duke of Aleneon, 
struck it a heavy blow with his battle-axe, which 
came near finishing Henry's career on the spot. 
Again several Frenchmen, excited by the blood- 
red glitter of the Ruby perhaps, swore to strike 

* It must be remembered that the money value of the pound sterling 
in Henry's time was three or four times what it is now. 



156 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

Henry's crown from his head or perish in the 
attempt. They accordingly rushed upon him 
in a body, and one of them knocked off a part 
of the crown, but the king defended himself 
bravely until supported by some of his own 
knights. 

The sequel of this broken fragment of the 
crown is not so picturesque or heroic. One of 
the prisoners taken in the fight, a person named 
Gaucourt, declared after he was brought to 
England that he knew where the jewels were 
which had been struck from the crown. On 
promise of his liberty without ransom if he 
restored them, he went to France and got the 
lost gems, returning with them to London. It 
is a sorry thing to have to record of the hero of 
Agincourt that he. appears to have taken the 
recovered jewels and then neglected to liberate 
Gaucourt. 

The identical helmet worn by Henry, now 
shorn of all its jewels and only decked with 
the dust of four centuries, hangs high aloft in 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 157 

Westminster Abbey where it is never seen with- 
out causing interest in the mind of even the most 
unimaginative visitor. The two deep marks, one 
made by the battle-axe of the Duke of Alencon 
and the other by the sword of the nameless 
Frenchman, are plainly visible, enduring evi- 
dence of the fierceness of the fighting on the 
stricken field of Agincourt. 

Henry vi. followed his father's example in 
carrying his crown to the battle-field, but further 
than that the parallel cannot lie, for instead of 
winning a kingdom the luckless Henry lost his 
crown at Hexam (1464) and only saved his life 
by the fleetness of his horse. The crown which 
probably mounted our Ruby, was borne by a 
page who was killed, and the regal bauble was 
instantly carried off to Edward iv. who had 
himself forthwith crowned with it at York. 

In that long and bloody struggle the honors 
of which are somewhat concealed in its graceful 
and poetic name, the Wars of the Roses, the 
Ruby adhered to the winning side. When Lan- 



158 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

caster was bowed in the dust, it gleamed on 
the head of York, and so we bring it down to 
the youthful days of bluff King Hal. At his 
coronation Henry VIII. is thus described by a 
contemporary : 

" He wore a robe of crimson velvet furred with ermine, 
his jacket of raised gold, the placard (tabard ?) embroid- 
ered with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and great pearls, 
and other rich stones, a great Bauderike (collar) about 
his neck of great Balasses, while as for his beautiful 
features, amiable visage and princely countenance, with 
the noble qualities of his royal state, they are too well 
known by everybody to need mention by me." 

From which comment we must perceive that the 
estimate entertained of Henry vin. has altered 
decidedly for the worse. This Bauderike, or 
collar of rubies, was a famous jewel and one 
which appeared at all the great pageants of the 
pleasure-loving king. It was entirely broken 
up by Charles 1. and sold to raise funds for his 
army. We are disposed to conjecture that it 
included our Ruby either as pendant or other 



THE BLACK PRINCES RUBY. 1 59 

portion of the collar. It was worn at the Field 
of the Cloth of Gold where Henry and Francis i. 
outdid each other in splendor. Notwithstand- 
ing all this display of gold and jewels, they were 
but half civilized at the court of Henry, as the 
following quaint incident proves. At a certain 
splendid pageant the King and some of his 
nobles attired themselves in fanciful costumes 
upon which their chosen names such as " True- 
Love," "Good Cheer " and the like were written 
in large letters of bullion. After the mask the 
King intimated that the court-ladies might take 
for keep-sakes those gold letters, and they, de- 
lighted, proceeded instantly to snatch them from 
the dress of the King and his courtiers. The 
crowd which was witnessing this show from afar 
rushed in to share the spoil, and in a twinkling 
had stripped the King to his jerkin and hose ; 
they then attacked the Queen and her ladies 
and " worse would have befallen " if the royal 
guards had not opportunely arrived and driven 
off these grabbing subjects. 



l6o THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, was even more 
extravagantly fond of jewels than he was himself. 
The numerous well-known pictures of the queen 
are more especially portraitures of Her High- 
ness's dresses and jewels than anything else. 
Elizabeth did not set the Ruby away in her 
state-crown but kept it by her, no doubt for the 
frequent bedecking of her royal person. 

She showed it upon one occasion to the Scotch 
envoy, Sir James Melville, under circumstances 
of peculiar interest. It was in 1564 when Eliza- 
beth and Mary Stuart were both young women, 
the one comely, the other beautiful, and both 
were eagerly sought by every unmarried prince 
in Europe. Elizabeth had rejected all her offers. 
Mary had done the same. The English queen 
was lavishing honors upon her handsome Master 
of the Horse, Robert Dudley, and was generally 
understood to be preparing him for a seat on 
the throne beside herself. At this juncture she 
astonished the world by announcing that she 
had found a husband for Mary Stuart. This 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. l6l 

husband was Robert Dudley. The Scottish 
queen was considerably amazed at this pro- 
posal, and not a little annoyed at being offered 
for her consort a subject of such mean descent 
as the handsome Robert. However she did 
not say nay, and Melville was sent to London 
to negotiate the marriage. He stayed nine 
days at the court of Elizabeth and has given 
most vivid pictures of that great Queen. He 
found her intensely jealous of Mary's superior 
personal attractions and pressed the envoy hard 
to say which had the most beautiful hair. She 
also resorted to a childish trick to show him how 
well she could play on the virginals. She like- 
wise danced for him, detaining him two whole 
days for the purpose, and his comment upon 
this performance is historic : " I said, ' My queen 
danced not so high or disposedly as she did.' " 
All this and much more the canny Scotsman 
tells us about what he saw and said and did 
during his nine days visit. 

One evening the Queen took him into her 



l62 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

bed-chamber to show him some of her most 
precious belongings. She first opened a lettroun 
(cabinet) where he beheld a number of little 
pictures wrapped up in paper, with its name on 
each one written by her own royal hand. The 
first one was thus labelled : " My Lord's Picture." 
It was Leicester's portrait, and Melville holding 
the candle begged to see it, but Elizabeth made 
difficulties about it ; then the envoy pressed her 
to let him carry it back with him to show to his 
own queen, thinking apparently that the sight 
of the handsome face would move her to the 
marriage more than all political considerations. 
Elizabeth declared that she could not give it up as 
she had but that one, upon which Melville re- 
torted that she had the original. " She shewed 
me a fair ruby, great like a racket-ball. I desired 
she would either send it to my queen or the Earl 
of Leicester's picture. She replied ' If Queen 
Mary would follow her counsels she would get 
them both in time and all she had, but she 
would send a diamond as a token by me.' " It 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 163 

was the Black Prince's Ruby for which the 
envoy begged, but the poor Queen of Scots was 
fated never to get either the jewel or the earl. 

This ruby was pierced at the top with a small 
hole to enable it to be worn suspended from the 
neck, a frequent occurrence with oriental gems 
which are worn without setting. The hole is 
now filled up by a small ruby, but this fact 
proves it to have been among the jewels with 
which James i. adorned his state-crown. The 
Earl of Dorset made a careful inventory of the 
royal treasures, which is signed by the King 
himself. The description of the imperial crown, 
after reciting a bewildering number of diamonds, 
pearls, rubies and sapphires, winds up thus : 
"and uppon the topp a very greate ballace 
perced." This is manifestly the ruby in whose 
fate we are concerned. 

Charles 1. seems to have used his father's 
crown at his own coronation in 1626, a cere- 
mony which was marked by two incidents after- 
wards found to have been ominous. There 



164 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

being no purple velvet in London Charles was 
robed in white velvet, which is an unlucky color 
it seems, and the Queen, Henrietta Maria, a 
silly and obstinate girl, refused to be crowned 
with him, owing to their religious differences. 
Fortunately the great Ruby was not left in the 
jewel-house at the time of Charles' execution, 
for had it been there we should have heard no 
more of it. Every thing which was found there 
was either melted clown or sold by order of the 
Commonwealth. Amongst other things thus 
treated was the gold filigree crown of Edward 
the Confessor, which was broken up and sold 
for its weight of bullion. Such vandalism is 
almost enough to make one a Jacobite. 

With the return of the Stuarts the Ruby came 
back and ascended once more to its proper place 
in the Crown of England. All the appliances of 
a coronation had to be made anew for Charles II., 
so that the ceremony was in consequence some- 
what shorn of its impressiveness. Charles' crown 
was, according to an old writer, " especially praise- 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 165 

worthy" for an enormous emerald seven inches 
in circumference, a large pearl and a ruby set in 
the middle of one of the crosses. This ruby 
although not particularized is sure to be the 
one we have traced thus far. It is so very 
much larger than any other ruby belonging to 
the Crown of England that whenever we find a 
pre-eminently large one mentioned in English 
history we may safely take it to be the Black 
Prince's Ruby. It could be mistaken for no 
other stone by any one who had ever seen it. 
A shining ball of blood-red fire slightly irregular 
in shape, " great like a racket-ball," is not so 
common an object that it could pass unnoticed 
by writers who take it upon them to describe 
crowns and other royal ornaments. 

During the reign of Charles n. the Crown of 
England had a narrow escape of being stolen. 
This singular adventure happened as follows: 

The Regalia then as now was kept in the 
Tower and was shown to visitors as still is 
the case. The person in charge was an old 



1 66 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

man named Edwards who was in the habit 
of locking himself in with his visitors when 
showing the treasure. One day a gentleman, 
apparently a parson, and a lady, apparently his 
wife, called and saw the crown which they par- 
ticularly admired, of course. The parson was 
Colonel Blood, a notorious Irish desperado. 
The lady became suddenly faint and was ac- 
commodated with a chair and other restoratives 
in the keeper's sitting-room where quite a friend- 
ship was struck up. The soi-disant parson cul- 
tivated the friendship assiduously, and finally 
proposed to cement it by a marriage between his 
nephew, apparently a soldier, and the daughter 
of the keeper. Blood came with the nephew 
who it is needless to say was merely an accom- 
plice, and another friend. They asked to see 
the regalia and the unsuspecting old man led 
them into the strong room and locked himself 
in as usual. The moment he had done so he 
was set upon by the three ruffians, beaten, thrown 
down, gagged, stabbed in the body and left for 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 167 

dead. Then they managed to force open the 
case containing the Crown Jewels. Blood hid 
the crown under his cloak, the other two took 
the scepter and the globe, and then they opened 
the door intending to steal away. Just as they 
did so, young Edwards, a soldier, who by a 
singular chance arrived at that moment from 
Flanders, entered. In a moment after the Tower 
rang with the cry of " Treason ! treason ! the 
crown is stolen ! " 

The young man gave chase, aided by the guard 
at the gate, and eventually they succeeded in 
capturing Blood after a " robustious struggle " 
during which some pearls and diamonds were 
knocked out of the crown. 

"It was a gallant attempt for a crown/' ob- 
served Blood, as they led him to prison. He 
was condemned, but Charles pardoned him, and 
even admitted him to favor, though Blood was 
a known ruffian who had nearly succeeded in 
hanging the Duke of Ormonde on the public 
highway not long before. It is suggested that 



l68 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

he terrified the king into liking him owing to 
the boast that he had five hundred friends who 
would do anything to avenge his death. Blood 
was constantly seen at court and eventually he 
obtained a pension of five hundred pounds a 
year, while poor old Edwards was never recom- 
pensed and died in the greatest want and misery. 
Truly the ways of princes are inscrutable ! 

James n. gave his whole soul to the glories of 
his coronation, reviving ancient ceremonies and 
doing every thing with exactness, much in the 
same way as did Charles x. of France, and they 
both succeeded in losing the crowns thus elabo- 
rately set upon their heads. James used the 
crown made for his brother Charles whose head 
was somewhat larger. The result was what might 
have been expected — the crown did not fit, and 
was with difficulty kept in its place. Indeed, it 
wabbled so much that Henry Sidney put forth 
his hand to steady it saying : " This is not the 
first time, Your Majesty, that my family have 
supported the crown." 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 1 69 

James fled and the Ruby remained to greet 
William and Mary at their double coronation,, 
and then it descended peacefully to the House 
of Brunswick, in whose service it has ever since 
remained. 

The coronation of George iv. on July 19, 182 1, 
was probably one of the most gorgeous pageants 
of this century. The King spent an immense 
sum upon his adornment ($1,190,000), and not 
only that, but he gave close attention to the 
fashion of his clothes, spending days and weeks 
in anxious consultation over the length, size, 
shape, and material of all the garments that he 
was to wear. 

At last, having got all ready to his perfect 
contentment, the trappings were all brought to 
the palace, and the King dressed up one of his 
servants in his own royal clothes and then put 
him through the paces of a coronation while he 
looked critically on. 

Public feeling was very much excited at the time 
over the divorce proceeding between George iv. 



170 THE BLACK PRINCES RUBY. 

and his Queen, Caroline of Brunswick. When, 
therefore, it became known that the Queen was 
not to be crowned along with him, her partisans 
were very indignant. The King was in the Abbey 
in the middle of the gorgeous ceremony when 
amid the frantic cheers of the multitude Queen 
Caroline drove up to the entrance attended by 
Lord Hood. The doorkeeper however refused 
her admittance, and after a long parley the 
Queen was obliged to turn away. Meanwhile 
George iv. was going through the fatiguing fool- 
eries which he had insisted upon reviving for 
his own glorification. 

Six long hours the ceremony lasted, and as 
the day was very hot and the King very fat, he 
spent most of the time wiping his streaming 
face with dozens of pocket handkerchiefs which 
were constantly passed along to him for that 
purpose. 

The crown for this occasion was large, costly 
and very heavy. It weighed nearly seven 
pounds and was made by Messrs. Rundell & 




THE CROWN OF ENGLAND. 
{By kind permission of Messrs. Cassell &* Co.) 



THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 173 

Bridge. It was a mass of precious stones. At 
the back of the lower band was a large sap- 
phire, one of the Stuart relics, and in front 
gleamed the fire-red stone which had looked 
down in Agincourt from the helmet of Henry v. 
The last coronation although it occurred half 
a century ago is familiar to us owing to the 
revivifying process of the Queen's Jubilee. The 
crown, which was also made by Messrs. Rundell 
& Bridge, is less heavy than that of George iv. 
by three pounds and more. We will not enum- 
erate its thousands of diamonds, its hundreds of 
pearls, and its scores of rubies and sapphires. 
The ornaments consist of fleur-de-lys and Maltese 
crosses done in diamonds. In the center of the 
lower band of the crown is placed the large 
sapphire already mentioned and just above it, 
in the middle of a superb cross composed of 
seventy-five diamonds, gleams the famous Ruby. 
It stands out in bold relief and the red flash of 
its rays gives the needful touch of color to the 
sparkling mass of diamonds. The French say 



174 THE BLACK PRINCES RUBY. 

that the crown is heavy and without elegance, 
being in short altogether in the English taste. 
The criticism may be just, for it is difficult to 
see how $5,638,000 worth of precious stones, ex- 
clusive of the Ruby, could be packed on to the 
gear for the small head of a small woman with 
any great attempt at elegance. 

The Queen was crowned on June 25, 1838, and 
Dean Stanley tells of a sudden ray of sunlight 
which streamed down upon the youthful sover- 
eign as she sat in the Coronation Chair with 
the crown upon her head, producing an effect 
which was beautiful in the extreme. A Queen 
has always been popular with the English, and 
we can well imagine the enthusiasm which Vic- 
toria's girlish gracefulness must have aroused 
in people who contrasted her with the heavy 
uninteresting kings who had preceded her. 
This was the last great occasion upon which 
the Black Prince's Ruby appeared before the 
nation whose sovereigns it had so long adorned; 
and viewing the beneficent reign of the gracious 



THE BLACK PRINCES RUBY. 1 75 

lady whose coronation it then attended we can 
only say we hope it may long continue its 
uneventful existence at the top of the glittering 
pile in the Wakefield Tower. 

In October, 1841, the crown, and all that 
therein is, had a narrow escape of perishing 
unromantically by fire. The Tower being then 
used as a military storehouse the fire rapidly 
spread, and it was thought advisable to remove 
the crown. The keys of the strong case where 
the regalia is kept are in the hands of three 
different officials, all at a distance. \ There was 
no time to be lost, as the place was getting very 
hot, so police inspector Pierse with a crowbar 
burst through the iron bars, forced himself in 
and handed out the precious articles whose 
value is estimated at five millions of dollars. 
Soldiers and policemen ran with the coronation 
baubles to a place of safety, and everything was 
eventually saved, though not before Inspector 
Pierse had been well-nigh roasted. 

This is the last adventure that the Black 



176 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY. 

Prince's Ruby has met with, and when we last 
looked upon it peacefully glistening in the sun- 
light it seemed hard to imagine that it had 
passed through so many dangers by fire and 
sword and had looked down on so many great 
scenes of royal splendor. 



VIII. 



THE SANCI. 



THE diamond which is known as "the 
Sanci," or, as it is sometimes written, 
" Sancy," has been not inaptly termed a Sphinx 
among stones. Until recently writers have been 
accustomed to begin the story of this diamond 
with Charles the Bold^Duke of Burgundy and, 
with numerous variations of detail, to derive it 
from him. 

Now Charles the Bold had three diamonds 
which were famous throughout Europe as well 
for their size as for the fact that they were cut 
by a European lapidary. Louis de Berquen, 
who flourished in the fifteenth century, discov- 
ered by chance the true principle of diamond- 
cutting. He rubbed two diamonds together and 
found that one would bite upon the other, and 
177 



178 THE SANCI. 

that a high polish could thus be effected. The 
Duke confided his three great diamonds to the 
hands of this cutter and was so delighted with 
the result that he rewarded the clever lapidary 
with three thousand ducats. Of the diamonds 
thus cut, one was presented to Pope Sixtus iv. 
and another to Louis xi. of France. This latter 
diamond was set heart-shaped in a ring between 
clasped hands, a symbol of truth and faithful- 
ness, and as such was a singularly inappropriate 
gift to one of the most perfidious monarchs who 
ever sat on a throne. 

The third stone the Duke kept for himself 
and wore it on his finger. This is the one 
writers have been pleased to call the Sanci, but 
they agree in no other detail of its history. 
The description of the Sanci — an almond- 
shaped stone covered all over with facets — 
does not agree with the description of the 
Duke's diamond ; but this awkward fact has 
been easily got over by not mentioning it. 
Still on making the Sanci belong to Charles the 



THE SANCI. 179 

Bold a history had to be furnished for it. Ac- 
cordingly we learn that it was lost at the battle 
of Morat in 1476 — and also at Nancy in the 
following year ; that it was found by a Swiss 
soldier under a cart — and that it was taken 
from the frozen finger of the corpse of Charles ; 
that it was sold for two francs to a priest — and 
that it was sold to a French nobleman ; and so 
on through a maze of absurdity and contradic- 
tion. 

The diamond known as the Sanci and once 
an ornament of the crown of France never be- 
longed to Charles the Bold. It is an Indian-cut 
diamond, and it was first brought to Western 
Europe in the reign of Henry in. of France by 
his ambassador at Constantinople, the Seigneur 
de Sanci. This person deserves a word or two. 

Nicholas Harlay de Sanci was born in 1546 
and filled many posts of importance during the 
reigns of Henry in. and Henry iv. He was a 
Huguenot, but being immensely wealthy he was 
held in favor even by the son of Catherine de 



l8o THE SANCI. 

Medici. His magnificence and his jewels were 
the admiration and envy of his contemporaries. 
He changed his religion backward and for- 
ward three or four times and finally under 
Henry iv. settled into Catholicism. For this 
reason, if for none other, he was hated most 
cordially by Sully-who mentions him with dis- 
like in his Memoirs. According to Sully he was 
clever but arrogant ; not very clear-headed for 
business, yet sometimes hit upon expedients 
which would escape more phlegmatic minds. 
We shall see further on how this estimate was 
borne out. 

Henry ill. in a state of chronic war and 
equally chronic poverty turned in his distress to 
his wealthy subject, and de Sanci responded as 
a wealthy and loyal subject should. The King 
needed troops to enable him to cope with the 
League. They must be faithful — therefore 
they must be Swiss, who would only come upon 
certain payment of their wages. In order to 
raise the money for these troops de Sanci of- 



THE SANCI. l8l 

fered to pledge a great diamond, worth twenty 
thousand crowns, which he had bought from the 
Portuguese Pretender, Dom Antonio, who on 
flying from Lisbon had carried off the crown 
jewels. \ The King gratefully accepted the offer 
and the diamond was sent for. A trusty valet 
was the person deputed to carry the precious 
freight, but the valet was waylaid and mur- 
dered. 

Dismayed at the probable consequences of 
this disaster, the King roundly abused de Sanci 
for having trusted his diamond to a servant, but 
the latter persistently declared his belief that 
the diamond was not irretrievably lost. I After 



much difficulty and a considerable lapse of time 
the body of the murdered valet was found, upon 
which de Sanci ordered it to be dissected, when 
the missing diamond was discovered in the body. 
This must have been one of those happy expe- 
dients which de Sanci's ready wit enabled him 
to hit upon. Few " phlegmatic " people would 
have thought of looking for a diamond in such 



182 THE SANCI. 

a concealment in the days when de Sanci 
lived. 

In our enlightened times diamond-swallowing 
is largely practised by the thieves who infest 
the mining regions of South Africa. The 
police accordingly are supplied with emetics and 
purgatives as well as rifles and ball cartridges. 
Quite recently a notorious thief was captured 
and put under medical treatment. The first 
day's doctoring produced three diamonds, the 
second brought to light eight more, and the 
third day gave fourteen ; and after all the debili- 
tated patient triumphantly declared, "There's 
plenty more to come, Baas." 

It has been thought advisable to give in de- 
tail the story of de Sanci's valet and the diamond 
because the adventure is usually attributed to 
the diamond which forms the subject of this 
article. Upon careful examination it has ap- 
peared to us probable that it really happened to 
the diamond bought from Dom Antonio and 
that this diamond was a distinct stone from the 



THE SANCI. 183 

Sanci proper. Both gems however seem to have 
had the same fortunes and their histories for a 
century and a half run in parallel lines. 

De Sanci, whose extravagance was unbounded, 
gradually became embarrassed and from time 
to time no doubt disposed of his gems in order 





THE SANCI : TOP AND SIDE VIEWS. 

to raise money. The date of the purchase of 
the Sanci is fixed about 1595, when Elizabeth 
who was inordinately fond of jewels added it to 
the Crown of England. In 1605, Sully received 
an order from Henry iv. to buy up all the 
jewels of Monsieur de Sanci, whose affairs had 
come to a crisis. Neither 'the Sanci nor the' 
Portuguese diamond were among these valuables 
thus bought in for Henry. 




THE SANCI. 

In the reign of James I. of England there 
appears amongst his Majesty's personal jewels 
one of particular note called the " Portugal " 
whose name does not appear in previous inven- 
tories of the English jewels, and this we are 
inclined to believe was the diamond which de 
Sanci purchased from Dom Antonio, and which 
had so many adventures. In the absence of 
direct proof however this identification should 
be accepted only provisionally. Shortly after 
his accession James caused a number of jewels 
to be reset, and one ornament, known as the 
" Mirror of Great Britain," was considered to 
be the master-piece. 

It is thus described in the official inventory 
of 1605 : 

" A greate and riche Jewell of golde, called the Myrror 
of Greate Brytagne, contayninge one verie fayre table 
diamonde, one verie fayre table rubye, twoe other lardge 
dyamondes cut lozengewyse, the one of them called the 
stone of the letter H of Scotlande garnyshed wyth small 
dyamondes, twoe rounde perles fixed, and one fayre dya.- 
monde cutt in fawcettes bought of Sancey." 



THE SANCI. 185 

That this was the diamond subsequently 
known as the Sanci there can be no doubt. 
The description " cut in facets " almost estab- 
lishes the fact without the mention of the name 
of its recent owner. 

The diamond called the " Stone of the letter 
H " belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots, and was 
greatly valued by herj It was a present from 
Henry vin. to his sister Margaret on her mar- 
riage with James iv. of Scotland. In her will 
the Queen of Scots bequeaths it to the Crown, 
declaring that it should belong to the Queen's 
successors, but should not be alienated. 

When in 1623 Charles, the Prince of Wales, 
went on his love-trip to Madrid along with 
Buckingham to woo the Infanta, he had an enor- 
mous amount of jewels sent out to him in order 
to make friends for himself at court. As was 
already mentioned in the paper about the 
Pelegrina, these magnificent gifts were valued 
at no less a figure than one and a half millions 
of dollars. Buckingham, who did not lack for 



l86 THE SANCI. 

audacity, had the impudence to write to King 
James asking for the "Portugal" itself; but 
the over-indulgent monarch, though he scarcely 
ever refused anything to his beloved favorite, 
did not comply with this request. The Spanish 
marriage fell through, and Charles and Buck- 
ingham returned to England. 

A couple of years afterwards, Charles being 
King, the stately Duke was sent to Paris to 
bring back the king's bride, Henrietta. On 
this occasion Buckingham seems to have ex- 
ceeded himself in splendor. He was provided, 
says Madame de Motteville, with all the dia- 
monds of the Crown and used them to deck 
himself. Possibly this may be merely an ex- 
pression to indicate the profusion of Bucking- 
ham's jewels, and diamonds should not be read 
literally. Be this as it may, it is a fact that the 
Duke appeared at a ball at the Louvre in a suit 
of uncut white velvet, sewn all over with dia- 
monds. These diamonds moreover, were sewn 
on very loosely, so that whenever the wearer 



THE SANCI. 187 

passed a group of ladies he particularly wished 
to honor, he shook himself, and a few of the 
diamonds fell off. This senseless extravagance 
was resorted to in rivalry of the Duke of Chev- 
reuse, the most profuse of the French nobles, 
who at the ceremony of the betrothal had ap- 
peared in a suit embroidered with pearls and 
diamonds, it being contrary to a sumptuary law 
to embroider with gold or silver. 

Charles did not long enjoy the tranquil pos- 
session of his diamonds. By the time he and 
Henrietta had ceased to quarrel he and his Parlia- 
ment had begun to do so. The Queen pledged a 
large number of the crown jewels in Holland 
in order to raise funds for her husband, but 
these consisted mostly of pearls and did not 
include either the Sanci or the Portugal whose 
connection with the Crown of England was not 
yet to be severed. 

In 1669 the court jeweler of France, Robert 
de Berquen, whose writings have already been 
alluded to, says : 



l88 THE SANCI. 

" The present Queen of England has the diamond which 
the late Monsieur de Sanci brought back from the Levant. 
It is almond-shaped, cut in facets on both sides, per- 
fectly white and clean, and it weighs fifty-four carats." 

Berquen was likely to be well-informed both 
from his profession and from his position. His 
book is highly interesting and contains some 
very quaint passages. Thus, when writing of 
diamonds he assumes a critical attitude in sur- 
veying past writers and their deductions, and 
rejects with scorn and as utterly unworthy of 
belief the statement that a lady, having two 
large diamonds, put them away in a box and 
found, on again examining the box, that they 
had produced several young ones. 

The expression " the present Queen of Eng- 
land " has considerably puzzled many writers, 
since at that date there were two queens of 
England, namely the dowager Henrietta and 
the consort of Charles 11., Catherine of Bra- 
ganza. It seems most probable that the expres- 
sion refers to the latter, for some years previous 



THE SANCI. 189 

to the Restoration we find Henrietta disposing 
of the diamond to the Earl of Worcester. The 
following letter is in her hand : 

" We Henrietta Moria of Bourbon, Queen of Great 
Britain, have by command of our much honored lord and 
master the King caused to be handed to our dear and well- 
beloved cousin Edward Somerset, Count and Earl of 
Worcester, a ruby necklace containing ten large rubies, 
and one hundred and sixty pearls set and strung together 
in gold. Among the said rubies are also two large dia- 
monds called the ' Sanci ' and the ' Portugal,' " etc. 

After the Restoration Charles 11. made strenu- 
ous endeavors to collect the scattered jewels of 
his Crown. How or when he recovered the 
Sanci and the Portugal we cannot now tell. It 
would be very like the devoted Worcester who 
ruined himself for the Stuarts to have given 
them back to Charles without stipulation, and it 
would be very like a Stuart to have accepted 
them and never to have paid for them. Wor- 
cester died in 1677 and two years later, as we 
have seen, the Sanci was in the hands of the 
" present Queen of England." 



190 THE SANCI. 

Along with the Crown, the Sanci descended 
to James 11., and no doubt figured at the extra- 
ordinarily fine coronation which inaugurated his 
disastrous reign. The Queen had a million's 
worth of jewels on her gown alone, and " shone 
like an angel," says a contemporary, who was so 
dazzled by her splendor that he could scarcely 
look at her. When James lost his crown he 
managed to keep hold of the Sanci and also, 
presumably, of the Portugal. Indeed the jewels 
of England for a long time served to keep the 
famished court of the Stuarts around James 
and his soni Gradually they were sold to jine-et, 
the exigencies of the various Pretenders till 
nothing of value was left for the last Stuart, 
the Cardinal of Yorl^ to bequeath to the Eng- 
lish King. Among the first to go was the 
Sanci which James n. sold to Louis xiV; for 
twenty-five thousand pounds about the year 
1695. 

From this date for one hundred years the 
Sanci ranked third among the French jewels, 



THE SANCI. 191 

being valued at one million of francs ($200,000). 
The first and second on the list were respect- 
ively the Regent, valued at twelve millions, and 
the Blue, at three millions. 

At the coronation of Louis xv. in 1723, the 
Sanci bore a distinguished part. 

The little King, aged thirteen years and a 
half, was crowned at Rheims with all the splen- 
dor and tediousness of ceremonial for which 
the French court had become renowned. Louis, 
previous to the imposition of the Crown, was 
dressed in a long petticoat garment of silver 
brocade which reached to his shoes, also of 
silver. On his head he wore a black velvet 
cap surmounted on one side by a stately plume 
of white ostrich feathers crested with black 
heron's feathers. This nodding head-dress was 
confined at the base by an aigrette of diamonds, 
among which the Sanci was chief. 

At the coronation of Louis xvi. in 1775, the 
Sanci had the honor of surmounting the royal 
Crown in a fleur-de-lis, which was united to the 



192 THE SANCI. 

rest of the diadem by eight gold branches. Just 
beneath the Sanci blazed the royal Regent with 
the Portugal, the Sanci's old companion and 
fellow diamond. Pity that a head once so gor- 
geously bonneted should roll in the bloody saw- 
dust of the guillotine ! 

The Sanci shared the fate of the Regent in 
being stolen in 1792, but it did not share its 
luck in being found again. As early as Febru- 
ary in that eventful year rumors began to circu- 
late of the intention of the royalists to lay 
violent hands upon the Crown Jewels, but the 
commissioners ordered to make the inventory 
for the National Assembly declared such rumors 
devoid of truth. The fact remains however 
that all the diamonds were stolen, and all, ex- 
cept the Regent, disappeared completely for 
many years. 

In 1828 the Sanci comes to light once more. 
A respectable French merchant sold it in that 
year to Prince Demidoff, Grand Huntsman to 
the Czar, for a large sum, apparently one hun- 



THE SANCI. 



r 93 



dred and eighty thousand dollars. One would 
like to know where the above respectable mer- 
chant got the diamond, but unfortunately he 
seems not to have furnished any history with it 
— perhaps because it might have made him 
appear less respectable. 

Four years later the Sanci went to law. Prince 
Demidoff, it seems, agreed to sell it to a Mon- 
sieur Levrat, director of Forges and Mines in 
the Grisons, for one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand dollars, and Monsieur Levrat agreed to 
pay the price. Afterwards he contended that 
the diamond had been spoiled by being re-cut, 
which was very likely, and that it was worth 
only twenty-five thousand dollars. To this re- 
markable reduction in price Prince Demidoff 
seems to have assented, and he delivered over 
the stone to Monsieur Levrat who was to pay 
by instalments. Instead of paying, he pawned 
the stone, and the defrauded Prince sued him, 
won his case, and got back the diamond. This 
was all the more lucky for the Demidoffs, since 



194 THE SANCI. 

in 1865 they were able to sell it for one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

While in the hands of Prince Demidoff the 

Sanci is reported to have had some strange ad- 

- ventures of which the following is an example : 

It was in the shawl of the Princess one day, 
when, finding it hot, she handed the shawl to a 
friend to carry for her. The friend was a very 
absent-minded scientific personage ; he put the 
Sanci pin into his waistcoat pocket for safety and 
forgot all about it when returning the shawl to 
the Princess. She forgot the pin also (a likely 
incident this). Next day the Sanci was miss- 
ing. Consternation! Scientific friend hurriedly 
interviewed. He remembered the incident. 
Where was the waistcoat ? Gone to the wash 
(of course). O, horror ! Washerwoman fran- 
tically sought. Where was the waistcoat ? — 
in the tub ? Was there anything found in the 
pocket? Yes; a glass pin. Where was it? 
Had given it to her little boy to play with (of 
course). Where was the boy ? Playing in the 



THE SANCI. 195 

gutter ! Despair ! The little fable ends nicely, 
as a little fable should, and there is joy all 
around. 

The person who gave the DemidorTs one hun- 
dred thousand dollars for the Sanci was Sir 
Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy the great Bombay mer- 
chant and millionaire. And thus after many 
wanderings the Sanci at length returned to the 
Orient whence, to judge from its cutting, it had 
originally come. However its stay in India 
was but brief. It came back to Paris for the 
Exhibition of 1867, where it found itself once 
more beneath the same roof as the Regent. It 
was nevertheless not in the same show-case 
as that imperial exhibit, for it belonged to 
Messrs. Bapst who were willing to sell it for the 
sum of one million of francs, the exact amount 
at which it had been valued previous to the 
Revolution. 

Some one rich enough to buy it and fond 
enough of diamonds to spend such a sum on a 
jewel was found again in India. This time it 



196 THE SANCI. 

was a Prince. The Maharajah of Puttiala be- 
came its owner. When on the first of January, 
1876, the Prince of Wales held a Grand Chapter 
of the Star of India at Calcutta, he beheld, in 
the turban of one of the Rajahs, the diamond 
of his ancestors. The Maharajah, says the 
Londo?i Times correspondent, wore five hundred 
thousand dollars worth of the Empress Eugenie's 
diamonds on his white turban, and the Great 
Sanci as pendant. These were supplemented 
by emeralds, pearls and rubies on his neck and 
breast. 

Of all the diamonds whose history we have 
followed this one certainly carries off the palm 
for the variety of its adventures. The Koh-i- 
Nur is an older stone and has belonged to many 
kings, but the different countries in Asia are, 
to our minds at least, much less clearly distin- 
guished from one another than our European 
states. For a diamond to pass from the hands 
of an Afghan chief to a Persian Shah seems 
less of a change than for it to go from the 



THE SANCI. 197 

treasure-room of the Tower of London to the 
Us/ Garde Meible of Paris. 

Now that the Sanci has been found and is so 
widely known it is to be hoped that it will be 
kept always in view. Diamonds and heads are 
often unaccountably lost in the seraglios of 
Asiatic princes, but we must only hope that 
oriental potentates are now sufficiently enlight- 
ened to understand that we, of the Western 
World, wish to be informed of everything that 
happens, whether it be the fall of a dynasty, or 
the sale of a diamond. 




THE GREAT MOGUL. 

IF the Sanci be the Sphinx of diamonds the 
Great Mogul may not inaptly be called 
the Meteor among them. Like those brilliant 
visitants in the skies, it flashes suddenly upon 
us in all its splendor and as suddenly disappears 
in total darkness leaving not a trace behind. So 
utterly has it vanished from our ken that some 
writers deny its independent existence. And 
this they do in the face of the minute description 
of the greatest diamond-merchant and expert of 
his century, who actually held the stone in his 
hand ! The hard-headed practical Tavernier 
was not likely to have dreamed that he saw the 
Great Mogul, nor is it likely that a diamond- 
merchant of his experience could have made 
any gross mistake as to its weight or its charac- 
198 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 1 99 

ter — for some go so far as to suggest that the 
Great Mogul was a white topaz! The fact that 
we now cannot find the diamond is no sufficient 
reason for denying its former existence. 

In the account of Queen Victoria's diamond, 
the Koh-i-nur, we made acquaintance with the 
court of Delhi; to its complicated records we 
must return for the Great Mogul. It is scarcely 
needful to state this name is a fanciful one be- 
stowed on the lost gem by European writers ; Tav- 
ernier gives it no distinct name in his description. 

Shah Jehan ( Lord of the World ) who reigned 
in the middle of the seventeenth century was, as 
we have already seen, the husband of the beau- 
tiful Nur Jehan (Light of the World) who bore 
him four sons and two daughters. 

As the King grew older his sons grew stronger, 
and fearing that they would not be able to dwell 
together in amity at Delhi the old monarch gave 
distant governments to three of his sons, in 
order to keep the young men apart from one 
another, and at a safe distance from himself. In 



2 00 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

this way he vainly hoped to escape the destiny 
of Indian emperors — jealousies and mutinies 
during his life and fratricides after his death. 
But his plan failed. Shah Jehan saw one son 
put a brother to death and he himself lived for 
seven years as the captive of the murderer. 

A contemporary of Shah Jehan was Emir 
Jemla, or Mirgimola, as Tavernier calls him. 
He was a man of great ability and singular for- 
tunes, being, so to speak, the Cardinal Wolsey 
of his king Abdullah Kutb Shah, lord of Gol- 
conda. Proud, ambitious, skillful and rich, he 
at length aroused the suspicions of his sovereign, 
as was the case with regard to Wolseyl Emir 
Jemla was not, however, a priest, but a soldier, 
and commanded the King's armies. A Persian 
by birth and of mean origin, he had raised him- 
self to be general-in-chief by means of his mili- 
tary talents and his vast wealth. Emir Jemla 
sent ships into many countries, says Tavernier, 
and worked diamond-mines under an assumed 
name, so that people discoursed of nothing but 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 201 

of the riches of Emir Jemla. His diamonds, 
moreover, he counted by the sackful. 

In the year 1656, being sent by the King to 
bring certain rebellious rajahs to reason, he left 
as hostages in his master's hands his wife and 
children, according to the usual practice among 
the suspicious and not over-faithful Asiatics. 
While he was absent upon this expedition the 
King's mind was poisoned against the powerful 
favorite by the courtiers jealous of his success. 
Having only daughters, the King was made to 
believe that Emir Jemla intended to raise his 
own son to the throne, and the unruly, ill-man- 
nered behavior of this son lent color to the tale. 
The King took fright at the idea and laid hands 
upon the hostages using them sharply. The son 
sent word to his father, Emir Jemla, and the latter 
enraged at the indignity resolved to avenge him- 
self. He invoked the aid of the imperial suze- 
rain, Shah Jehan. Uncertain of his success at 
headquarters, he applied in the meantime to two 
of the Emperor's sons who were nearer at hand 



202 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

than far-off Delhi, for they were then at the head 
of their respective governments to the north and 
west of Golconda. One of them refused Emir 
Jemla's offer of adding his master's dominions 
to the empire of Shah Jehan in return for the 
loan of an army, but the other accepted the 
proposition. The name of him who accepted 
was Aurungzeb, third son of Shah Jehan, and the 
most perfidious prince within the four corners of 
India. 

The allied chiefs did not waste time, but ar- 
rived before Golconda so unexpectedly that 
Abdullah had barely time to save himself by 
retiring to his not far-distant hill-fortress. In- 
deed the King himself threw open his gates to 
the enemy, for Aurungzeb gave out that he came 
as ambassador from the emperor Shah Jehan, 
and the King was within a hair-breadth of fall- 
ing into the hands of the treacherous ambassa- 
dor when he received timely warning and saved 
himself by flight. With a courtesy which Tav- 
ernier finds passing graceful the fugitive King 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 203 

sent back to his rebel vassal the wife and chil- 
dren whom he had held as hostages. Notwith- 
standing their war there remained a good deal 
of kindly feeling between Emir Jemla and the 
King, his master. For example : one day his 
Majesty being straitly besieged in his fortress 
was informed by his Dutch cannonier that Emir 
Jemla was riding within range. " Shall I take 
off his head for your Highness ? " asked the 
Dutchman. The King, very wroth, replied: 
'• No; learn that not so lightly is esteemed the 
life of a prince." The cannonier, not to be 
balked of his artillery practice, cut in twain 
the body of a general who was riding not far 
from Emir Jemla. 

On his side also Emir Jemla was anxious not 
to reduce the King to extremities and refused to 
prosecute the siege to the uttermost, which much 
disgusted his ally Aurungzeb. Rather he would 
treat with his ancient master, who gladly accepted 
the chance of deliverance, appealing to Shah 
Jehan himself against his son. \ The emperor 



204 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

was easy on his former ally, and eventually a 
family alliance was arranged between a daughter 
of King Abdullah and a son of Aurungzeb. 
Emir Jemla set off to Delhi to confer with Shah 
Jehan upon the subject. 

It is an axiom of Asiatic etiquette that no one 
ever comes before a king without laying a gift 
at his feet. Emir Jemla, anxious to obtain the 
favor of Shah Jehan, took care not to stand 
before him empty-handed, but presented him 
with "that celebrated diamond which has been 
generally deemed unparalleled in size and 
beauty." So says Franzois Bernier, a French- 
man, physician to Aurungzeb, who lived many 
years in Delhi and whose familiarity with the 
court enabled him to speak accurately of recent 
occurrences. 

After Emir Jemla had presented his matchless 
diamond to Shah Jehan, who was a man of taste 
in gems, he gave the Emperor to understand 
that the diamonds of Golconda were quite other 
things from " those rocks of Kandahar," which 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 205 

he had seen hitherto. This was a rather con- 
temptuous phrase to use to an emperor who 
already possessed the Koh-i-nur. However, the 
stone which Emir Jemla gave to Shah Jehan so 
far exceeded everything that had been hitherto 
dreamed of in the way of diamonds that he might 
be excused if he exaggerated somewhat. 

It will be well here to quote Tavernier's ac- 
count of the Great Mogul diamond, even though 
something out of the chronological order. The 
occasion is Tavernier's departure from Delhi 
on his sixth and last return from India to 
Europe. 

" The first of November, 1665, I was at the Palace to 
take leave of the King ( Aurungzeb ) but he said I must 
not go without seeing his jewels since I had seen the 
magnificence of his fete. Next morning very early five 
or six officers came from the king and others from the 
Nabob Jafer Khan, to say the king was waiting for me. 
As soon as I arrived the two courtiers who had charge of 
the jewels accompanied me to his Majesty, and after the 
customary salutations they took me into a small chamber 
situated at the end of the hall where the king was sitting 
on his throne, and whence he could see us. I found in 



206 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

this chamber Akel Khan, the chief keeper of the jewels, 
who as soon as he saw me commanded the four eunuchs 
of the king to go and fetch the jewels which were brought 
on two wooden trays lacquered with gold-leaf, and covered 
with cloths made on purpose, one of red velvet and one 
of green velvet embroidered. After they were uncovered 
and had been counted, each piece two or three times, a 
list was drawn up by the three scribes present. Indians 
do all things with much care and deliberation, and when 
they see any one acting with precipitation or getting angry 
they look upon it as a thing to laugh at. 

"The first piece which Akel Khan put into my hands 
was the great diamond which is a round rose, cut very 
high on one side. On the lower edge there is a slight 
crack and a little flaw in it. Its water is beautiful and it 
weighs 319 1-2 ratis which make 280 of our carats, the ratis 
being 7-8 of our carat. When Mergimola ( /. e. Emir 
Jemla ) who betrayed the king of Golconda, his master, 
made present of this stone to Shah Jehan to whose court 
he retired, it was rough, and weighed then 900 ratis which 
make 787 1-2 carats, and there were several flaws in it. 
If this stone had been in Europe it would have been dif- 
ferently treated, for several good slices would have been 
taken off, and it would have remained heavier instead of 
which it has been entirely ground down. It was Iior- 
tenzio Borgis, a Venetian, who cut it, for which he was 
sufficiently badly recompensed, for when it was seen, he 
was reproached with having ruined the stone, which 
should have remained heavier, and instead of paying him 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 207 

for his work, the king fined him ten thousand rupees and 
would have taken more if he had possessed it. If Sieur 
Hortenzio had understood his business well he would 
have been able to get several good pieces from this stone 
without doing any wrong to the King, and without having 
the trouble of grinding it down, but he was an unskillful 
diamond-cutter." 

Tavernier held this great stone in his hand 
for some time and contemplated it at his leisure. 
It must have been a great day for him, the con- 
noisseur, to see and examine the finest diamond 
in existence. It is well he looked long and 
keenly at it, for it was never again to be seen 
by European eyes. On this second of Novem- 
ber, 1665, the Great Mogul was seen for the 
first, last and only time by one able to tell us 
anything about it. This was its meteor-flash 
into history and fame. It was seen by the man 
best able to appreciate it and then never seen 
again. The accompanying illustration is taken 
from Tavernier's drawing of the Great Mogul. 

Incidentally we learn something more of the 
monster diamond from the pen of the same 



208 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

writer. Speaking of the Coulour or Gani dia- 
mond-mine, Tavernier says : 

" There are still found there large stones, larger than 
elsewhere, from ten to forty carats and sometimes larger, 
among them the great diamond which weighed nine hun- 
dred carats ( an evident slip for ratis ) before being cut, 
which Mirgimola presented to Aurungzeb ( another slip 
for Shah Jehan ) as I have said before." 

To explain these slips of Tavernier's pen it 
will be well to state that the great Frenchman, 
though speaking all European and many Asiatic 
languages, was yet unable to write in any, not 
even in his own. He therefore borrowed the 
pen of two different persons to write his delight- 
ful travels which give us such a living picture of 
Indian life two centuries ago. The Coulour 
mine, here spoken of, was discovered about a 
century before Tavernier's time, in a very singu- 
lar manner. A peasant when preparing the 
ground to sow millet, unearthed a sparkling 
pebble which excited his attention. Golconda 
was near enough for him to have heard of dia- 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 



209 



monds, so he brought his prize to a merchant at 
the latter place. The merchant was amazed to 
see in the peasant's pebble a very large diamond. 
The fame of Coulour quickly spread, and it soon 
became a great mining center, employing thou- 
sands of workmen. Tavernier objects that the 
mine yielded stones of impure water. The 
gems, he declares, 
seemed to partake 
of the nature of 
the soil and tended 
to a greenish, a 
reddish, or a yel- 
lowish hue as the 
case might be. 




THE GREAT MOGUL 



This defect was not apparent in the Great 
Mogul which was, he distinctly says, perfect, of 
good water and of good form, having but one 
little flaw on the lowest edge. Taking this flaw 
into consideration, the value of the diamond, 
according to Tavernier's scale of estimation, 
was 11,723,278 livres which being reduced to 



2IO THE GREAT MOGUL. 

present coinage yields the goodly sum of 
$2,344,655. Being permitted to weigh it, he 
found the exact weight to be 279 9-16 carats. 

Then after looking at the diamond as long 
as he wanted, for Akel Khan did in no wise 
hurry him, Tavernier was shown a multitude 
of other gems of lesser note, and among them 
a pearl perfectly round, weighing thirty-six and 
one half ratis of beautiful luster, white, and 
perfect in every way. 

" This is the only jewel which Aurungzeb who reigns 
now has bought on account of its beauty, for all the others 
came to him in part from Dara, his eldest brother, to 
whose belongings he succeeded after having cut off his 
head, and in part from presents from his nobles." 

This slight remark opens to our view one of 
the saddest chapters of the gloomy family his- 
tory of Shah Jehan's sons. And as Dara was 
once the possessor of the Great Mogul, we maybe 
allowed to give his pitiful story in a few words. 

Prince Dara (David) the eldest son of Shah 
Jehan and the Light of the World, was destined 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 211 

by his father to succeed him on the throne of 
Jelhi. Having, as we have already seen, dis- 
posed of his other three sons in the furthest 
corners of India, the old king thought he was 
safe. But one of those sons, Aurungzeb, was a 
man of restless ambition. Not content with his 
appointed province of the Deccan, Aurungzeb 
pretended to the imperial crown itself. In 1657 
Shah Jehan fell sick, and Aurungzeb, attended 
by a large army, which included a contingent 
under Emir Jemla's command, hastened toward 
Delhi. J The aged emperor, dreading the filial 
solicitude which arrayed itself in so formidable 
a manner, sent orders to his son to return to his 
province. Aurungzeb not only did not return, 
but persuaded another brother to come up from 
his province, likewise attended by an army, and 
together they marched upon their father's capi- 
tal. The course of Asiatic intrigue is too com- 
plicated and subtle for any but the merest 
antiquary to track it. Suffice it to say that after 
much lying and many protestations of obedience, 



212 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

matters came to a crisis, and Dara was sent by 
Shah Jehan to oppose Aurungzeb by force. 

Dara was overthrown and returned humiliated 
to his father's palace. Recollecting that his 
own path to the throne lay through the blood of 
his nearest relatives, Shah Jehan, no longer able 
to defend his eldest son against the undutiful 
Aurungzeb, gave him two elephant-loads of gold 
and jewels, and bade him escape. The Great 
Mogul diamond was apparently among the 
jewels thus despairingly bestowed upon his son 
by the enfeebled old king. At all events Dara 
escaped and fled from friend to friend for the 
space of one year, and it was during this time 
that he was seen by Bernier, the famous French 
surgeon, who was afterwards attached to the 
service of Aurungzeb. 

Meantime that successful traitor dethroned 
and then imprisoned his father, whose grandilo- 
quent title of Shah Jehan (Lord of the World) 
became a bitter mockery when designating the 
prisoner of Agra, and then he awaited the treach- 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 213 

ery of some of Dara's so-called friends. In the 
course of a twelvemonth, his patience was re- 
warded. The chief of Jun, who had reason to 
be grateful for many favors from Dara, gained 
an infamous notoriety by delivering the fugitive 
prince over to his usurping brother. 

Aurungzeb caused Prince Dara to be publicly 
paraded through the streets of Delhi with his 
little seven-year-old grandson by his side, while 
the executioner stood ominously behind him. 
This pitiful spectacle was witnessed by all 
Delhi, and many tears were shed over the fall 
of Dara, but "no one raised a hand to aid him," 
remarks Bernier, who was one of the spectators. 
After a mock trial the unhappy prince was sen- 
tenced to death, and a slave with several satel- 
lites was sent to the prison of Gevalior to dis- 
patch him. Dara was engaged in cooking 
some lentils for himself and his little grandson, 
for this was the only food he would touch, lest 
they should be secretly poisoned. The moment 
the slaves entered, he cried out, "Behold, my 



214 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

son, those who are come to slay us ! " and 
snatching up a small knife he tried to defend 
himself and the child. It was an unequal fight 
which could but end in one way. The boy was 
quickly made an end of, and Dara being thrown 
down was held by the legs while one of the 
slaves cut off his head. The head was then 
immediately brought to Aurungzeb, as a certifi- 
cate that his orders had been duly executed. 
The king desired the face to be washed and 
wiped in his presence and then, when he saw 
that it was the veritable head of Dara, his 
brother, he fell a-weeping and cried aloud : "O, 
Dara ! O, unhappy man ! Take it away ! 
Bury it in the tomb of Humaiyun." 

Such was the fate of Dara, the second owner 
of the Great Mogul. 

In conclusion Tavernier says of the treasures 
belonging to Aurungzeb : 

" These then are the jewels of the Grand Mogul which 
he showed to me by a particular grace granted to no other 
foreigner, and I held them all in my hand and considered 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 215 

them with so much attention and leisure that I can assure 
the reader that the description which I have given is very 
exact and faithful, as also of the stones which I had time 
enough to contemplate." 

Here absolutely ends the history of this mag- 
nificent gem. What became of it no one knows. 
Whether it was lost in the sack of Delhi, or car- 
ried off by Nadir Shah along with the Koh-i-nur, 
it is impossible to say, or even to conjecture 
with any degree of plausibility, No account of 
this grand diamond, however, would be complete 
without some reference to the extraordinary 
myths which have gathered around it. There 
is scarcely another large diamond of no matter 
what size, or what color, or what shape, that has 
not sometime, or by somebody, been declared 
to be the Great Mogul. Its subsequent history 
seems to be the happy hunting-ground of the 
foolish theories of writers on precious stones. 
Men who write carefully enough about other 
diamonds, launch out into the wildest conjec- 
tures about the Great Mogul. They apparently 



2l6 THE GREAT MOGUL. 

cannot bear the thought of losing so precious a 
gem and therefore they find it somewhere, no 
matter to what inconsistency and absurdity they 
may be reduced in the process of identification. 

Take a few examples. 

It has been maintained that the Great Mogul 
is the Orloff ; that it is the Koh-i-nur ; that it is 
both together ; that it is the Orloff, the Koh-i- 
nur and a third beside, now lost, which Hor- 
tenzio Borgis obtained by cleavage — the precise 
thing which Tavernier distinctly says he did not 
do, preferring to grind it down ; that it was not 
a diamond at all, but a white topaz — as if Tav- 
ernier, the greatest expert of his times, would 
not have detected that fact. Even Mr. Streeter, 
in general a most reliable authority on diamonds, 
is dazzled into inconsistency when he comes to 
treat of the Great Mogul. In his work, Precious 
Stones a?id Gems, published in 1877, he says 
under the head of celebrated diamonds: "The 
diamond known as the Great Mogul has received 
an amount of attention beyond any other.V Un- 

J 



THE GREAT MOGUL. 217 

der the name of the Koh-i-nfir ( Mountain of Light) 
it played an important part in the Exhibition 
of 185 1," etc., etc. Now harken to Mr. Streeter 
writing in 1882: "If this description (Taver- 
nier's) be compared with the models both of 
the Koh-i-nur and of the Great Mogul itself in 
our possession, all doubts will be at once re- 
moved as to the essentially different character 
of the two crystals." Again : " The two differ 
absolutely in their origin, history, size and 
form ! " The Mr. Streeter of 1882 is wisely 
ignorant of the lucubrations of the Mr. Streeter 
of 1877. 

Unable to offer the slightest hint as to the 
fate of the Great Mogul we can only hope that 
some future day may reveal it, and until then 
we must put up with our ignorance as best we 
may. It came and went in a flash of glory, the 
Meteor of Diamonds. 



X. 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 



THE subject of this article is, as its name 
sets forth, a diamond of a yellow hue. 
After the Orloff it is the largest cut diamond in 
Europe, weighing one hundred and thirty-nine 
and a half carats. Tavernier, who first men- 
tions it, says " it has a tinge of yellow which is 
a pity." King declares, " on the highest au- 
thority," which he does not further particular- 
ize, that this tinge is a very strong one, almost 
destroying its brilliancy. 

^ Yellow diamonds are not necessarily devoid 
of brilliancy, as we can bear witness from per- 
sonal knowledge. There was recently offered 
for sale at a public auction in London a very 
large specimen known as the Orange Diamond, 
of one hundred and ten carats weight, which we 
218 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 2IO, 

carefully examined. The circumstances were de- 
cidedly adverse to the beauty of a diamond, for it 
was in the half-light of a London fog that we saw 
it, yet the stone seemed literally to shoot tongues 
of yellow fire from its facets. It was a round 
brilliant, and being set in a circle of about a 
score of white diamonds its tawny complexion 
was shown to admirable advantage. The jewel 
was supported on a delicate spring which vibra- 
ted with each step upon the floor, so that there 
was a constant coruscation of light around it. 

It is difficult to establish the early history of 
the Austrian Yellow. Tavernier saw it in Flor- 
ence somewhere about 1642, but he does not 
say whence it came. Its appearance proves it 
to be an Indian-cut ipse, but that does not help 
us much with regard to its private wanderings 
in Europe. A good authority on diamonds, de 
Laet, who flourished shortly before Tavernier's 
time, declared that the largest diamond then 
known weighed seventy carats, which would 
clearly indicate that he knew nothing about the 



220 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

much larger yellow diamond. Tradition relates 
that it was bought for a few pence in the market 
at Florence, under the impression that it was a 
piece of glass ! If this is so, one would be glad 
of some particulars of the moment when the 
happy possessor found out his mistake. 

Tavernier says that " the Grand Duke (of 
Tuscany) did him the honor to show him the 




THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW — TOP AND SIDE. 

diamond several times." He made a drawing 
of it, as he did of nearly all the large diamonds he 
saw, and his estimation of its value is two millions 
of livres (about four hundred thousand dollars) 
— a low price considering the size of the stone ; 
but no doubt its yellow tinge had something to 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 22 1 

say to it. The Grand Duke of Tavernier's time 
was Ferdinand il, who reigned from 162 1 to 1670 
— a man of considerable enlightenment, a pro- 
tector of Galileo and an encourager of literature. 
If there is any truth in the popular belief to 
which we shall presently allude, that diamonds 
promote the mutual affection of husband and 
wife, then indeed the great yellow stone had 
need of its charm in the case of Ferdinand's 
son and successor, Cosimo in. This luckless 
prince was married to Marguerite Louise d'Or- 
leans, niece of Louis xiv., a young lady of 
flighty fancies and obstinate willfulness. Being 
deeply attached to her cousin of Lorraine, she 
was only induced to give her hand to the heir 
of Tuscany on the threat of imprisonment in a 
convent. She was married in 1660 and made 
her state entry into Florence amid unparalleled 
splendor. Immediately afterwards the courts 
of Europe rang with the quarrels of the newly- 
wedded pair. The Pope of Rome, the King of 
France, mother, sisters, aunts, ambassadors, 



222 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

bishops, cardinals, lady's maids, each in turn 
interfered with the object of restoring harmony, 
and each in turn ignominiously failed. Here 
surely was work for the diamond had it been 
possessed of its reputed power. 

During this time and for many years after- 
wards, the diamond about which we write was 
known as the " Florentine " or " Grand Tuscan." 
It was the chief jewel in the treasure-house of 
the Medici, and no doubt filled a conspicuous 
place in the pageants of the grand-ducal court. 
The Florentine sovereigns were not wealthy, but 
upon state occasions they made extraordinary 
displays which sometimes deceived foreigners 
visiting among them into a false idea of their 
affluence. A wedding was always a favorite 
occasion upon which to show off their finery. 
For example, at the marriage of Violante de 
Baviere with the son of Cosimo in., a magnifi- 
cence was displayed such as was never before 
seen even in Florence. The bride sat on a car 
studded with gems. Her father-in-law with his 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 223 

crown, no doubt containing the great diamond, 
upon his head, met her at the gate of San Gallo 
and escorted her to the palace. 

This princess dying childless, the throne was 
occupied by Giovan-Gaston, another son of 
Cosimo in. and the flighty Marguerite. He 
likewise left no heirs, so with his death in 1737 
terminated the great house of Medici. Giovan- 
Gaston was succeeded on the grand-ducal throne 
by Francis Stephen of Lorraine, who was forced 
much against his inclination to change his pa- 
ternal duchy of Lorraine for that of Tuscany. 
He was married to Maria Theresa, archduchess 
of Austria, afterwards so famous as the Empress- 
queen who fought valiantly against Frederick 
the Great. By the will of Giovan-Gaston dei 
Medici all the statues, books, pictures and jewels 
of his palace were " to remain forever at Flor- 
ence as public property for the benefit of the 
people and the attraction of foreign visitors," 
and none were to be removed from out of the 
Grand Duchy. 



224 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

Francis Stephen and Maria Theresa entered 
their new capital, remained there four months, 
and then departing carried away with them the 
great Tuscan diamond. So much for the re- 
spect paid to the wills of dead princes ! Hence- 
forward the yellow diamond became known 
as the Austrian Yellow in recognition, we sup- 
pose, of the royal thief who carried it off from 
Florence. 

At the coronation of Francis Stephen as em- 
peror of Germany at Frankfort-on-the-Main, on 
the fourth of October, 1745, the. pilfered dia- 
mond was used to decorate his Majesty's imper- 
ial diadem. Maria Theresa had been extremely 
anxious for her husband to be emperor, both 
because she was fondly attached to him, and 
because she wanted him to hold a title equal at 
least to her own as Queen of Hungary. She 
stood on a balcony at the ceremony and was the 
first to salute him with the cry of "Long live 
the Emperor ! " when the crown had been placed 
upon his head. Our readers will of course be 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 22$ 

aware that the imperial dignity was an elective 
one. It remained, it is true, in the Hapsburg 
family, still it did not descend from father to son 
like the other crowns of Europe, and the cere- 
mony of a fresh election was gone through at 
the death of each emperor. 

Napoleon, who upset most things in Europe, 
failed not to upset the throne of Charlemagne. 
The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 
1806, and Francis i., the elected emperor, abdi- 
cated the old German throne to mount the 
brand-new one of Austria. 

We return to our diamond. 

Francis Stephen, although emperor and re- 
puted owner of the yellow diamond, was quite 
overshadowed by the fame and splendor of his 
wife Maria Theresa. It is on record that one 
day being present at some high ceremony, he 
left the circle around the throne and went to 
sit in a corner beside a couple of ladies. They 
rose respectfully at his approach. 

"Oh! don't mind me," he said, " I am only 



226 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

going to sit here and watch the crowd until the 
court is gone." 

" As long as your Imperial Majesty is pres- 
ent the court will be here," replied the ladies. 

"Not at all/' said Francis Stephen. "The 
court is my wife and children. I'm nobody." 

And such indubitably was the fact. The Em- 
press adored him, but he was nobody and has 
left but little trace in history. He was very 
fond of money and sometimes resorted to sin- 
gular means in order to turn an honest penny. 
When his wife was engaged in that long strug- 
gle with the King of Prussia which goes in his- 
tory by the name of the Seven Years' War, he 
made a good sum by supplying the enemy's cav- 
alry with forage. Another strange though 
somewhat less crooked means of augmenting 
his riches is related concerning his diamonds. 
He employed himself for a considerable time 
in a series of experiments which had for their 
object the melting down of small diamonds with 
the view of making a large one. No doubt 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 227 

Francis Stephen would have been very pleased 
to smelt up a good number of diamonds if he 
could thereby have produced a match for his 
great yellow gem ; but it is easier to burn dia- 
monds than to fuse them. 

The storms and revolutions which nearly 
shook the house of Austria to the ground have 
left its diamond untouched. It was carefully 
preserved in the hasty flights from Vienna which 
occurred during the effervescing period of 1848 
when all Europe was in an uprOar. And now 
it reposes peacefully as a hat-button for the 
Emperor Francis 11. In appearance the dia- 
mond is a nine-rayed star, and is all covered 
with facets, according to the true Indian fashion. 
It may possibly interest the reader to hear what 
the Austrians themselves think of their diamond. 
The following extract is made from the official 
account furnished to Mr. Streeter : 

" This jewel was once the property of Charles the 
Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who according to the custom of 
the day carried all his valuables in the battlefield, first to 



2 28 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

have them always in sight, and secondly on account of 
the mysterious power then attributed to precious stones. 
Charles lost this diamond at the battle of Morat, on the 
twenty-second of June, 1476. Tradition relates that it 
was picked up by a peasant who took it for a piece of 
glass and sold it for a florin. The new owner, Bartholo- 
mew May, a citizen of Berne, sold it to the Genoese, who 
sold it in turn to Ludovico Moro Sforza. By the inter- 
cession of the Fuggers it came into the Medici treasury 
at Florence. When Francis Stephen of Lorraine ex- 
changed this duchy against the grand-duchy of Tuscany 
he became owner of the Florentine diamond." 

Of this extraordinary tale the concluding sen- 
tence alone is the only one worthy of the slight- 
est attention ; all the rest is mere legend. Con- 
temporary accounts show that Charles the Bold 
had no diamond at all similar to the Austrian 
Yellow either in size or shape; two very impor- 
tant factors in establishing the identity of a 
diamond. 

We have now reached the last great diamond 
which it is our purpose to chronicle, and it is 
hoped that the reader has become sufficiently 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 



229 



interested in these sparkling pebbles to bear 
with equanimity a few technical details concern- 
ing their nature and the processes which they 
undergo before becoming ornaments for the 
crowns of kings or the brooches of queens. 

That the diamond depends for its beauty al- 
most entirely upon the labor of man is suffi- 




DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 



ciently known. The rough diamond is seldom 
a beautiful object, being usually coated with a 
greenish film which gives it the look of an ordi- 
nary pebble. It requires the eye of an adept 
to recognize any potentiality of sparkle in so 
dull a lump. The ordinary rock-crystal is in- 



230 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

finitely more beautiful until the royal gem has 
been transformed by human skill. But after the 
touch of the magic wheel there is no substance 
which can compare with the diamond for luster, 
brilliancy and iridescence. 

Certain Indian diamonds finished by the hand 
of Nature and known as " Naifes," are an ex- 
ception to the rule that rough diamonds are dull 
looking. They are seldom or never found now, 
but were greatly prized by the natives in olden 
times and considered superior to the artificially 
polished stone. They were octahedral in form, 
with polished facets. The primary crystalline 
form of the diamond is the octahedron, or a 
figure of eight sides ; but it by no means confines 
itself to this form alone. It sometimes assumes 
twelve-sided shapes, or is merely a cube, or 
yet again variations of these figures. 

The atoms composing the diamond tend to 
place themselves in layers, and the discovery 
of this fact facilitated the cutting of the stone, 
as by finding the grain a skillful manipulator 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 23 1 

was able to cleave off protuberances at a 
blow. 

The accompanying diagrams represent a cer- 
tain large diamond both in the rough and after 
it was cut into a brilliant, and they will help to 
explain the process of diamond-cutting, which is 
briefly as follows : The first process is to make 
lead models of the stone in its actual state and 
also in the ideal, namely, after it is cut. By 
this means is found out the most economical 
way to shape it. The next step is to cleave it 
toward that shape as far as possible. Cleav- 
ing is performed in two ways ; by a steel saw 
strung on a whalebone and coated with dia- 
mond dust which saws off the required amount ; 
or by scratching a nick with a diamond point 
in the direction of the grain and splitting it off 
with one blow. This latter process, observes an 
old writer, requires great strength of mind as 
well as dexterity of hand, for by an unlucky 
blow a valuable stone may be utterly ruined. 
Supposing however that the cleavage has been 



232 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 



safely performed, the diamond is next fixed 
into a handle and is so imbedded in a soft ce- 
ment as to leave exposed only that portion which 
is to be ground. By means of another diamond 




DIAMOND AFTER CUT- 
TING , TOP, BOTTOM 
AND SIDE. 



similarly imbedded in a handle it is worked 
down to the requisite shape. The dust from the 
two grinding diamonds is carefully saved and is 
used for polishing them. This process is ef- 
fected by means of a disk of soft iron about a 
foot in diameter, coated with the diamond dust 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 233 

mixed with olive oil, and made to revolve very 
rapidly in a horizontal position. The portion 
of the diamond to be polished is then pressed 
against the revolving wheel and a high state of 
polish is thus attained. The grinding of the 
facets is entirely governed by eye, and such is 
the dexterity and accuracy attained by good 
manipulators that perfect roses are cut so small 
that fifteen hundred of them go to the carat; 
and when we remember that one hundred and 
fifty carats go to an ounce we shall have some 
faint idea of the minuteness of the work.* 

In Europe the brilliant is the usual form to 
give to the diamond, and the one most admired. 
The invention of this particular method of cut- 
ting is due to Vincenzo Peruzzi, a Venetian, who 
seems to have introduced the fashion in the 
latter half of the eighteenth century. He dis- 
covered that the utmost light and fire could be 

* The carat is the seed of a kind of vetch common in India, and is 
of such uniform weight that it naturally suggested itself as a standard 
measure, just as in our country the barley grain was taken as the unit. 



234 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

obtained by reducing the diamond to the shape 
of a pair of truncated cones, united at the base 
with thirty-two facets above and twenty-four 
below the girdle or largest circumference. 

Reference to the illustrations will explain the 
following technical terms : a, the upper surface, 
is called the table ; b, its sloping edge, the beasil; 
c, the girdle ; a 7 , the lower pointed portion, is 
called the pavilion, and the bottom plane, the 
collet. Of the thirty-two top facets only those 
are called star-facets which touch the table , all 
the rest, as well as those below the girdle, are 
called skill-facets. 

The old " table diamonds," once so highly 
prized, may be described as having the table 
and collet greatly enlarged at the expense of the 
beasil and pavilion. The rose diamond is cov- 
ered with equal facets, either twelve or twenty- 
four in number, the base of the stone being flat. 
This rule holds only for European roses ; the 
Orientals covered their diamonds with irregular 
facets following exactly the shape of the stone, 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 235 

as with them the one object was to preserve the 
weight of the stone as far as possible. 

Chemically speaking, the diamond is almost 
pure carbon, and may be said to be first cousin 
to ordinary coal and half-brother to the smoke 
of an oil lamp. If the lordly gem should refuse 
to acknowledge such mean relations it can always 
be confronted with the "black diamond," which 
though an undoubted diamond, looks so very 
like a piece of coal that the kinship is evident. 
The present writer once saw a very costly parure 
belonging to the Countess of Dudley, composed 
entirely of black diamonds set heavily in gold. 
Being a very little girl she considered it a great 
waste of the precious metal to employ it to set 
such ugly stones. She is of the same opinion still. 

In ancient times the diamond was credited 
with a vast number of occult virtues. Thus it 
was said by the Romans to baffle poison, keep 
off insanity and dispel vain fears. The Italians 
believed that it maintained love between man 
and wife, but we have already seen one notable 



236 THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 

instance in which it signally failed to render 
this useful service. One is at a loss to imagine 
how such a belief became common, seeing the 
number of diamonds which belonged to royal 
personages, and the state of affairs prevalent in 
their domestic life. In England, at the same 
period, diamonds were looked upon as deadly 
poisons. The murder of Sir Thomas Overbury 
in the Tower of London during the reign of 
James 1. was said to have been attempted by 
means of these gems ground to powder. Over- 
bury certainly died, and presumably by foul 
means, but modern science has acquitted dia- 
monds of having any share in the crime. 

There is a certain rule for estimating the 
price of a diamond, and singular to say it is the 
old Indian rule by which Tavernier was guided 
in his purchases, and which modern commerce 
has been content to let stand. The current 
market price of a good cut diamond, one carat 
in weight being ascertained, the square of the 
weight of the diamond to be valued is multiplied 



THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 



2 37 



by that figure. The present selling price in 
London of a clear and faultless cut diamond 
one carat in weight is one hundred dollars, 
one of three carats therefore would be worth 
3X3X100— $900. 

Were our advice asked with regard to the 
purchase of these valuable pebbles whose history- 
has so long occupied our attention, we should 
refer our interlocutor to that Chinese philoso- 
pher who on being asked why he kept bowing 
and saying, " Thank you, thank you," to the 
gem-bedecked mandarin, replied: 

" I am thanking him for buying all those dia- 
monds and undertaking the trouble and anxiety 
of keeping them safe that I, undisturbed, may 
look at them and admire them at my leisure." 



XL 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 



THAT the human neck is a suitable pillar 
to hang ornaments upon is so obvious a 
fact that it must have presented itself to the 
most rudimentary savage ; and that it did thus 
occur to the early human mind we have abun- 
dant evidence. The prehistoric graves of 
Europe give up a greater quantity of necklaces 
to the antiquarian searcher than almost any 
other article, with the exception of implements 
of war. These necklaces are differently com- 
posed of beads of glass and of amber, colored 
pebbles and small gold plaques, while the white 
teeth of various animals and sea-shells seem to 
have been as general favorites with the pre- 
historic as with the contemporary savage. 

It is not our intention to give an account of 
238 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 239 

the many types of necklaces which have found 
favor in the eyes of humanity. To do so would 
be quite beyond the scope of these stories. We 
propose on the contrary to select but one — 
one especially notable amid the necklaces of 
the past. We may mention that the first dia- 
mond necklace ever known in Europe was one 
composed of rough stones which was given by 
Charles vn. of France to Agnes Sorel. The 
fair lady's soft neck was so irritated by the 
sharp corners of the necklace that she said it 
was her pillory (carcan), hence the term carcanet 
which means a diamond necklace. The term 
fell into disuse about the time of the Revolution, 
and the proper name in France for a string of 
diamonds at that period was riviere. Nowadays 
they have restored the carcanet and kept the 
riviere as well, both terms being in common 
use. 

Of all the necklaces in all countries and all 
times, incomparably the most famous was that 
one with which Marie Antoinette's name was 



240 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

so unhappily associated. This trinket is still 
disputed about even in our own times. It has 
a literature of its own and it is emphatically 
The Necklace of History. We will endeavor to 
make clear its singular career and ultimate fate. 
In 1772, Louis xv. in the full tide of his in- 
fatuation for the worthless Madame Dubarry 
determined to make her a present that should 
be unique. It was to be a diamond necklace 
the like of which had never been seen before 
and which was to cost two millions of livres. 
Accordingly in the November of the same year 
he gave the order to his jewelers, Messrs. 
Bohmer & Bassenge, who set about the job with 
glee. But it took both time and money to get 
together such a lot of diamonds. Of time there 
seemed enough, for the king was healthy and 
not old, and as for money friends were ready to 
supply it in ample store upon such fair security 
as the beauty and influence of Madame Dubarry. 
But Fate in the guise of small-pox intervened 
and upset all these calculations. In May, 1774, 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 241 

Louis xv. died and Louis xvi. reigned in his 
stead. By this time the necklace was complete, 
and what it was in its completeness let the pen 
of Carlyle tell us : 

" A row of seventeen glorious diamonds as large almost 
as filberts encircle not too tightly the neck a first time. 
Looser gracefully fastened thrice to these a three-wreathed 
festoon and pendants enough (simple pear-shaped mul- 
tiple star-shaped or clustering amorphous) encirle it, 
enwreathe it a second time. Loosest of all, softly flowing 
round from behind in priceless catenary rush down two 
broad threefold rows, seem to knot themselves round a 
very queen of diamonds on the bosom, then rush on 
again separated as if there were length in plenty. The 
very tassels of them were a fortune for some men. And 
now lastly two other inexpressible threefold rows also 
with their tassels will when the necklace is on and 
clasped unite themselves behind into a doubly inexpressi- 
ble sixfold row, and so stream down together or asunder 
over the hind neck— we may fancy like a lambent 
zodiacal or Aurora Borealis fire." 

Such being the doubly inexpressible descrip- 
tion of this marvelous jewel we are not sur- 
prised that an awful difficulty should now arise 
to confound the luckless jewelers. 



242 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

Who would buy it ? 

Not the young queen Marie Antoinette, who 
when offered it answered that being on the eve 
of war with England they needed frigates more 
than diamonds. Besides she had just bought, 
and not yet been able to pay for, two expensive 
diamond ear-rings. 

This disappointed jeweler traveled all through 
Europe offering histrinket to the different queens 
and princesses, but none were rich enough to 
tie four hundred thousand dollars in a glittering 
string around their necks, so he returned to 
Paris with bankruptcy staring him in the face. 

In 1781, when Marie Antoinette's first son 
was born, the jeweler very nearly succeeded in 
selling it to Louis xvi., who wanted to make his 
wife a fine present upon so auspicious an occa- 
sion. The Queen, however, refused to touch 
the jewel when the king handed it to her as she 
lay in bed, and being very weak and ill, so that 
the least thing excited her dangerously, the 
doctor forbade mention to be made of this truly 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 243 

fatal necklace. The little dauphin, happily for 
limself, died while still a royal baby in his 




"the necklace of history." 

{Less than one fourth the natural size. By permission of 

Mr. Henry Vizetelly.) 

father's palace, and was succeeded by another 
boy less fortunate in his destiny. The luckless 



244 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

jeweler, who became almost a monomaniac on 
the subject of selling his necklace to Marie 
Antoinette, used always to attend with the glit- 
tering jewel at each happy event, so that the 
witty courtiers used to say whenever he appeared 
at Versailles : 

" Oh ! here's Bohmer. There must be another 
baby born ! " 

One day after about ten years of fruitless 
solicitation he threw himself at the Queen's feet 
and declared that utter ruin was come upon him 
through the necklace, that he would drown him- 
self if she did not buy it, and that his death 
would be upon her head. Her Majesty, much 
incensed, replied that she had not ordered the 
necklace and was therefore not bound to buy it, 
and ended by commanding him to leave her 
presence and never more let her hear about the 
jewel again. She thought the matter was finally 
ended. Poor Marie Antoinette ! She was 
destined to be haunted through life by those 
terrible diamonds and to be asked about them 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 245 

at her trial and to be taunted with the theft of 
them by the mocking crowds who surrounded 
her scaffold. Such being the state of the case 
in 1784, we shall leave the Queen and the jeweler 
to follow the fortunes of two other persons who 
were made famous and infamous by the necklace. 
The first was Louis de Rohan, cardinal grand- 
almoner of France and a prince in his own 
right. This person had been ambassador at 
Vienna where he had ridiculed Maria Theresa, 
Marie Antoinette's mother, and afterward a 
courtier at Versailles where he had criticised 
the Dauphiness, Marie Antoinette herself. By 
these double deeds he was cordially detested by 
the Queen who, like young people generally, was 
extreme in her likes and dislikes and vehement 
in the expression of her sentiments. Since the 
accession of Louis xvi. the cardinal had been in 
disgrace, and as royal favor is as the breath of 
life to the nostrils of a courtier, he was morbidly 
anxious to re-establish himself in the Queen's 
good graces. So much for the cardinal. 



246 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

The fourth and by far the most important 
character is yet to appear on the stage. This 
is the Countess de la Motte. This individual 
was of the vampire type of idle good-for-noth- 
ings, who lived at the French court, and whose 
rapacity eventually caused such havoc in the 
most exalted circles. Madame de la Motte 
pretended to royal descent through a natural 
son of Henry 11. Accordingly she added de 
Valois to her name, that being the family name 
of the reigning house which immediately pre- 
ceded the Bourbons. She had been a roadside 
beggar when a child, but her great plausibility 
of manner, which later on became so fatal, had 
won for her the good graces of a lady about 
court who befriended her and had her educated. 
She grew up, was married to the Count de la 
Motte, and henceforward used all her talents to 
push the fortunes of her family. A small pen- 
sion only excited her appetite for more. She 
made the acquaintance of the Cardinal de 
Rohan. The cardinal, a man of about fifty 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 247 

years of age, seems to have been perfectly in- 
fatuated with the countess who, though not 
beautiful, was witty and very taking in her 
manners. 

At length Madame de la Motte began to 
throw out hints about her acquaintance with the 
Queen and to suggest that she might be the 
means of restoring the cardinal to the royal 
favor. The cardinal believed implicitly in her 
intimacy with Marie Antoinette and built high 
hopes upon it, and not only the cardinal but many 
others likewise believed in it, and besought the 
adventuress's favor at the hands of Her Majesty. 
This may appear strange, seeing that the Queen 
and countess never exchanged a word in their 
lives ; but at court where nothing is ever known 
exactly, but all things are possible, it is not easy 
to learn the precise facts about anything. An 
adventuress in the days of Madame de Mainte- 
non is said to have made her fortune by walking 
through that lady's open door into the empty 
drawing-room and appearing for a few moments 



248 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

at the balcony. The courtiers saw her there, 
immediately concluded that she must be in favor 
with the unacknowledged wife of Louis xiv., 
and flocked about her with presents and flattery, 
hoping in return to profit by her influence. 

By an equally simple device Madame de la 
Motte obtained the reputation of intimacy and 
influence with Marie Antoinette. She made the 
acquaintance of the gate-keeper of the Trianon 
and was frequently seen stealing away with 
ostentatious secrecy from the favorite haunt of 
the Queen. It was enough. People believed 
in her favor, and she was a great woman. 

Then she took another step. She confided to 
the Cardinal de Rohan that the Queen longed 
for the diamond necklace, but had not the 
money to buy it, and feared to ask the King 
for it. Here was a chance for a courtier in dis- 
grace. The cardinal, acting upon the hint, 
offered to conduct the negotiation about the 
necklace and to lend the Queen some of the 
money for its purchase. The Queen apparently 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 249 

accepted his offer, and wrote to him little gilt- 
edged missives mysteriously worded and of 
loving import. The cardinal was exalted with 
joy. To be not only redeemed from disgrace, 
but to be in possession of the haughty Queen's 
affections was beyond his wildest hopes or 
aspirations. 

Still acting upon the suggestions of the 
countess the cardinal bought the necklace, 
and, for the satisfaction of the jewelers, drew 
up a promissory note, which was intended to 
be submitted to Her Majesty and was in fact 
returned, approved and signed, Marie Antoinette 
de France. This letter came through the hands 
of Madame de la Motte in the same myste- 
rious fashion in which the correspondence had 
hitherto been conducted. The cardinal there- 
upon brought the necklace to Madame de la 
Motte's house at Versailles, delivered it over to 
the supposed lackeys of the Queen, and went 
away rejoicing. Madame herself was feasted 
sumptuously by the grateful jewelers, who were 



250 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

profuse in their thanks for her aid. They even 
pressed her to accept a diamond ornament as a 
slight token of their gratitude ! Madame de la 
Motte dining with her dupes, graciously receiv- 
ing their thanks and magnanimously declining 
their presents, was certainly a spectacle for gods 
and men. 

The cardinal, not content with his billets-deaux 
from the Queen, was to be further gratified by 
a midnight interview with Her Majesty in the 
gardens of the Trianon. A lady dressed in 
the simple shepherdess costume affected by 
Marie Antoinette did indeed meet him in a 
dark-shadowed alley of the garden, and as he 
was ecstatically pressing the hem of her gar- 
ment to his lips she did present to him a rose 
which he clasped to his breast in speechless 
rapture. The lady of this scene and the Queen 
of the cardinal's fancy was a common girl off 
the streets, who bore a striking resemblance to 
Marie Antoinette. She was dressed up by the 
clever countess and was told to act according 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 25 1 

to certain instructions, but strange as it may 
seem she did not in the least suspect who it 
was she was representing — so skillfully was it 
all arranged by the astute Madame de la Motte 
who never let one tool know what another was 
doing for fear of spoiling her web of iniquity. 
The cardinal was totally ignorant of the impos- 
ture, and this although he knew the Queen 
well; but the night was dark and Madame de 
la Motte executed a sudden surprise by means 
of her husband, so that the pair were separated 
before the superstitious Queen had occasion 
to use her voice, the sound of which might 
have aroused the suspicions of even the blinded 
cardinal. 

In possession of four hundred thousand dollars 
worth of diamonds, Madame de la Motte's next 
difficulty was to sell them. This appeared to 
be impossible in Paris, for when she commis- 
sioned her friend Villette to sell a dozen or so, 
he was at once arrested as a suspicious person, 
and anxious inquiries were made as to whether 



252 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 



there had been any diamond robbery of late. 
But no — there had been nothing of the kind. 
Nobody complained of having been robbed ; 
court jewelers and cardinal were still in the 
happy anticipation of coming favors. The man 
Villette was the writer of the Queen's letters to 
the cardinal, he was also the lackey who had 
taken charge of the necklace for the writer of 
those letters, v He was a very useful friend to 
Madame de la Motte until at last he turned 
king's evidence and explained the whole fraud. 
The Count de la Motte next proceeded to 
London and there sold several hundreds of 
diamonds. Some stones he disposed of to Mr. 
Eliason the dealer who in after years it will be 
remembered had the Blue diamond in his pos- 
session. Upon the proceeds of these sales the 
la Mottes lived in Oriental splendor both in 
Pans and at their country seat at Bar-sur-Aube. 
This was in the spring of 1785, and until the 
first installment, due in July, became payable 
they seemed to live on absolutely oblivious of 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 253 

the danger ahead. " Those whom the gods wish 
"to destroy they first make mad," is the classic 
proverb which must be resorted to in this case. 
On no other supposition can their remaining in 
Paris be explained. Madame used diamonds 
for her pocket money and tendered them for 
everything she wanted, exchanging one for a 
couple of pots of pomade. 

The first payment not having been made, and 
the Queen having never addressed the cardinal 
in public nor ever worn the necklace, both pre- 
late and jeweler began to be surprised. The 
latter wrote to the Queen an humble but myste- 
rious letter expressive of his willingness to await 
Her Majesty's convenience if she could not 
pay up punctually. Marie Antoinette read the 
letter, but not understanding it, twisted it up 
into a taper and lighted it at her candle. She 
then bade Madame Campan find out what "mad- 
man Bohmer " wanted. Madame Campan saw 
the jeweler, heard his explanation, told him 
the Queen never had had the necklace at all, 



254 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

and that it was some dreadful mistake, and 
then in the greatest distress besought her royal 
mistress to inquire carefully into the story, as she 
greatly feared some scandal was being effected 
in the Queen's name. 

Hearing a rumor of trouble Madame de la 
Motte visited the jewelers, warned them to be 
on their guard (as she feared they were being 
imposed upon !) and then inexplicably remained 
in Paris, instead of escaping beyond the reach 
of the Bastile. The cardinal heard the rumor 
also ; he was disturbed, but relied though with 
dawning doubt upon these letters from the 
Queen signed Marie Antoinette de France. 

The fifteenth of August was and is a great 
day in all Catholic countries. It is the feast of 
the Assumption, an occasion upon which pre- 
lates don their most splendid robes and appear 
in all their dignity. During the reign of Louis 
xvi. it was an especially honored day, being 
besides a religious festival also the name clay 
of the Queen. On this day in 1785 at Ver- 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 255 

sailles, Cardinal de Rohan in his purple and 
scarlet vestments was suddenly placed under 
arrest, and thus humiliated was conducted from 
the King's cabinet through the crowd of amazed 
courtiers who thronged the (Eil de Bceuf into the 
guard-room. The scene in the King's cabinet 
had been brief. The cardinal, summoned to the 
royal presence, found Louis, Marie Antoinette, 
and the first Minister of State awaiting him, 
all in evident agitation. 

"You have lately bought a diamond neck- 
lace," said the King abruptly. " What have 
you done with it ? " 

The cardinal glanced imploringly at the Queen 
who turned upon him eyes blazing with anger. 

"Sire, I have been deceived," cried the car- 
dinal, becoming suddenly pale, "I will pay for 
the necklace myself." 

More angry questions from the King, more 
faltering confused answers from the cardinal, 
and meanwhile the stern implacable face of the 
incensed Queen turned towards him. The door 



256 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

opens, a captain of the guard enters : " In the 
King's name follow me ! " says the officer, and 
grand-almoner of France, the cardinal-prince of 
Rohan is led off under arrest. 

Thus far the action of every one concerned 
is comprehensible enough, but after this it 
becomes so extraordinary that it is no wonder 
if the enemies of the Queen pretended there 
was a dark mystery behind which had yet to 
be revealed. The unrelenting hatred of Marie 
Antoinette, which made .her demand the cardi- 
nal's head in vengeance for his audacity in 
aiming at her affections, seems to have blinded 
her to every other consideration but that of 
ruining her enemy. Madame de la Motte was, 
it is true, arrested and thrown into the Bastile, 
but so bent were the royal party upon destroy- 
ing the cardinal that they held out hopes of 
acquittal to the adventuress herself if she would 
accuse the cardinal. Nay, more, they offered to 
pay for the hateful jewel if Bohmer would give 
damaging evidence against the cardinal. Hav- 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 257 

ing thus completely put themselves in the wrong 
the case came on for trial before a bench of 
judges, who seem to have acted with perfect 
uprightness and impartiality. And this, too, 
when public feeling was running very high in 
Paris and the Reign of Terror only five years 
off. 

All the perpetrators of the crime, except 
Madame de la Motte, confessed to their share 
in it; so the whole series of gigantic cheats 
and trickeries was exposed. The forger con- 
fessed to his forgery, and the girl confessed to 
the scene she had acted in the gardens of the 
Trianon. At length the cardinal had to admit 
to himself that the woman la Motte, who had 
bewitched his senses to the detriment of his 
fair fame, had also cheated his purse to an 
almost fabulous extent and had involved him in 
the crime of high treason which in days of more 
absolute power would undoubtedly have cost 
him his head. The cardinal was acquitted of 
the capital crime, but was condemned to lose 



258 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

his post of grand-almoner, to retire into the 
country, during the King's pleasure, and to beg 
their Majesties' most humble pardon — a suffi- 
ciently severe sentence one would suppose for 
having been made a fool of by a designing 
woman. Marie Antoinette heard of the cardi- 
nal's "acquittal," as she called it, with a burst 
of tearful rage which transpires through her 
letters to her sisters at the time. She laments 
in them the pass to which the world had come 
when she could do nothing but weep over her 
wrongs and was powerless to avenge them. 

The rest of those concerned were variously 
dealt with. The Count de la Motte was con- 
demned to the galleys for life, but he had 
already escaped to London, so the sentence 
did not much matter in his case. The forger 
Villette was banished. In his case the decree 
of the court was carried out in the old-fashioned 
way : he was led to the prison gate with a halter 
round his neck, where the executioner gave 
him a loaf of bread and a kick and bade him 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 259 

begone forever. The sentence on Madame de 
la Motte was sufficiently rigorous. She was to 
be whipped at the cart's tail, branded, and 
then imprisoned for life. The whipping was 
but slightly administered, but a large V {voleuse- 
thief) was marked with a red-hot iron on her 
shoulder : a fact which caused the jocose to say 
that she was marked with her own royal initial, 
V standing for Valois as well as for voleuse. 

After a couple of years in prison the authori- 
ties connived at her escape, in pursuance it 
was believed of orders from Versailles. Marie 
Antoinette's unpopularity was, if possible, in- 
creased by the affair of the necklace, and the 
cardinal became a hero for a short time until 
others more conspicuous arose to overshadow 
him. Even yet, however, the unhappy neck- 
lace continued to work for evil towards the 
Queen. Safe in England Madame de la Motte 
wrote her Memoirs, which are nothing but a 
mass of libels and a tissue of falsehood all 
directed against the Queen. For private politi- 



260 A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 

cal purposes it suited the Duke of Orleans to 
spread them as much as possible, for the great 
aim of his life was to discredit the Queen. 

Madame de la Motte died miserably in London 
from the effects of a jump from a second story 
window which she took to escape from bailiffs 
who were arresting her for debt. All the money 
she obtained from the diamond necklace was 
not able to save her from want and misery. 
She was only thirty-four years old at the time 
of her death. The Count de la Motte lived on 
into the reign of Charles x. and begging to the 
last also died in want. The Cardinal de Rohan 
became an e'migre after his brief hour of Parisian 
popularity and died in exile. The jewelers be- 
came bankrupt and the firm sank into oblivion. 

And Marie Antoinette ? 

Ah well, she had nothing to say to the dire- 
ful necklace. She never probably so much as 
touched it with a finger-tip during the whole 
course of her life, but she was taxed with its 
theft on her way to the scaffold, and a genera- 



A FAMOUS NECKLACE. 261 

tion ago her memory was again loaded with the 
crime by M. Louis Blanc. Marie Antoinette 
has had every possible and impossible crime cast 
upon her by writers who sought in her person 
to degrade the idea of a monarchy, but slowly 
history is removing this dirt from the garment 
of her reputation. She was silly and headstrong 
in her youth aud did harm by her thoughtless- 
ness, but she was neither so silly nor so head- 
strong as many of the queens, her predecessors, 
nor did she do one tithe of the mischief that 
some of them attempted. She chanced, how- 
ever, upon troublous times, and therefore every- 
thing she did was reckoned a crime, as also 
many things which she did not do, such as the 
stealing of the Diamond Necklace. 



XII. 

the tara brooch and the shrine of st. 
Patrick's bell. 

THE two jewels which it is now our inten- 
tion to describe differ essentially from 
all those with which we have made acquaintance. 
They are not enriched with stones of any great 
value, but the setting of such pebbles as have 
been used is of a kind to render them unique. 
The most careful illustration conveys but a poor 
idea of the splendor and delicacy of the metal- 
work which literally covers these masterpieces 
of the goldsmith's art. We have nowadays a 
firm and in the main a well-founded conviction 
of our superiority in all things over the men of 
primitive ages. But in the presence of the Tara 
Brooch the most skillful jeweler of modern 
times is obliged to admit his inferiority. With 
262 



THE TARA BROOCH. 263 

all our skill it is impossible to imitate the deli- 
cacy of the workmanship and the wonderful 
grace and variety of the design displayed upon 
this truly royal gem. 

Its history is of the meagerest. It was found 
in the month of August, 1850, on the strand at 
Drogheda, washed up from the deep by some 
especially generous tide, and left there for two 
little boys to pick up. The mother of the chil- 
dren carried their find to a dealer in old iron, 
but he refused to buy so small and insignificant 
an object. She then tried a watchmaker, who 
gave her eighteen pence (thirty-six cents) for 
the brooch. The watchmaker cleaned it up and 
then beheld what he conceived to be a jewel of 
silver covered with gold filagree. He thereupon 
proceeded to Dublin and sold it to Messrs. 
Waterhouse, the jewelers, for twelve pounds 
(sixty dollars), which it must be admitted was a 
very fair profit upon his original outlay. 

Messrs. Waterhouse exhibited far and wide 
this jewel which was by them called the Royal 



264 THE TARA BROOCH. 

Tara Brooch — a name which serves well enough 
to distinguish it from other brooches, but which 
cannot be said to have any historical appropri- 
ateness. Whatever truth there may be in the 
legendary magnificence of " Tara's Halls," there 
is no reason to suppose that this brooch was 
ever displayed within its walls. These walls, 
whatever their nature, were represented by 
green mounds and grassy rath-circles, such as 
may be seen to-day, when the so-called Tara 
Brooch left the hands of the craftsman who 
made it. 

After a time the Tara Brooch was sold to the 
Royal Irish Academy for two hundred pounds 
(one thousand dollars) which, though by no 
means an exorbitant price, was again a very 
fair profit for Messrs. Waterhouse. 

The form and workmanship of the Brooch 
are of an early Celtic type, and it is believed 
by competent authorities to be extremely 
ancient, dating probably from before the eighth 
century. At any rate, it may with confidence 




THE TAKA BROOCH. 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 267 

be placed before the eleventh century, for a cer- 
. tain design known as the divergent-spiral or 
trumpet-pattern, which though common before 
disappeared from Irish art about that period, is 
to be seen among its intricate ornamentation. 
The groundwork of the jewel is not silver, as 
was at first supposed, but white metal, a com- 
pound of tin and copper. It is however the 
beautiful gold tracery laid upon this white metal 
which renders it so famous. No description 
can give an idea of what it is. The Tara 
Brooch must be seen to be understood. 

If the Tara Brooch appeals to our imagina- 
tion by reason of the mystery of its past, Saint 
Patrick's Bell has a contrary but even stronger 
hold upon us. It seems really to be an authen- 
tic relic of the Saint to whom it is ascribed, and 
at any rate it can be shown to have undergone 
a long and varied career. In the course of 
these narratives we have met with many kings 
and queens ; it is now our intention to introduce 
the reader to a saint. As it seems to be decreed 



268 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

by inscrutable destiny that no statement con- 
cerning Ireland shall ever be made without its 
being at once contradicted, we shall .endeavor to 
shelter ourselves behind the wisdom of compe- 
tent authorities. As Saint Patrick was an Irish 
saint it would be in the usual course of things 
for his very existence to be vehemently denied. 
It is thus denied by some writers who have been 
at pains to indite learned books upon the 
subject. 

The following details concerning him are 
taken in the main from Dr. Todd's Life of Saint 
Patrick, and from the Saint's own works as 
edited and translated by the Reverend George 
Stokes, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in 
Dublin. Not being learned in Irish nor yet 
in Latin, we accept the translations of these able 
scholars. 

As in the case of many great men the honor 
of being the birthplace of Saint Patrick is 
claimed on behalf of several places in England, 
Ireland, Scotland and France. The reader 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 269 

may choose which country he likes and he will 
find clever and ingenious arguments to support 
his theory. The Saint himself says that his 
father's name was Calpornius and that he dwelt 
in the village of Bannaven Tabernia, and the 
learned, if agreed upon no other point, are at 
least at one upon this — that they don't know 
where that village was. Saint Patrick's father 
had a small farm and seems to have been of 
noble birth, but the Saint invariably speaks of 
himself as the rudest of men, and deplores his 
want of learning. " I, Patrick a sinner, the 
rudest and the least of all the faithful and most 
contemptible to very many," is the beginning of 
his Confession, a work written by himself and 
containing most of the few facts known about 
his life. 

At the age of sixteen he was taken captive, 
whether from Armorica in Brittany, or from 
Dumbarton on the Clyde, it is impossible to say, 
and carried " along with many thousands of 
others " into barbarous Ireland. This evidently 



270 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

occurred in one of those predatory expeditions 
of the Irish, or Scots as they were then called, 
which under the chieftainship of Niall of the Nine 
Hostages extended to all the neighboring coasts. 
Dumbarton suffered repeatedly in this manner, 
a fact evidenced by the numbers of Roman coins 
found all along the coast of Antrim in Ireland. 
Dumbarton, an important military position, was 
the western limit of the Roman Wall constructed 
by Agricola, a. d. 80, to cut off the ravaging Picts 
from the rest of Britain, but the Romans, although 
so near, never set foot in Ireland. 

Having been thus carried off to Ireland Saint 
Patrick became the slave of Milchu who dwelt 
in Dalaradia in a place now identified with the 
valley of the Braid, in the very heart of the 
county Antrim. As a slave the Saint's duty was 
to tend sheep, and six years he spent in this 
humble occupation. The fervent zeal and 
burning piety which were destined to exalt him 
among men began to show themselves even in 
his youth. He used to pray both day and night, 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 27 1 

he tells us, even in the frost and snow never 
feeling any laziness. 

At the end of six years he escaped, made his 
way to the seacoast, and finding a vessel ready to 
start was at length suffered to embark. They 
sailed for three days and then wandered twenty 
days in a desert, j This item does not help us as 
to the locality, for the coasts either of Brittany 
or Scotland, suffering as they did from the fre- 
quent visits of the Irish, were likely enough to 
be deserts. Patrick's first converts seem to have 
been the crew of this ship, for being on the point 
of starvation they appealed to the Christian to 
help them, and the Saint prayed, whereupon a 
drove of swine appeared, the grateful sailors 
" gave great thanks to God, and I " [Patrick 
writes] " was honored in their eyes." 

After a brief stay with his parents the young 
man impelled by his zeal set out again for Ire- 
land, determined to bring its pagan inhabitants 
into the light of Christianity. There is some 
variety of opinion as to the date of the Saint's ar- 



272 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

rival in the home of his choice, but 432 is the date 
commonly received, at which time he appears to 
have been something under twenty-five years of 
age. He first went to the north with the inten- 
tion of seeking out Milchu his master. But this 
individual burnt up both himself and his house 
on the approach of the Saint in order not to be 
converted. So at least ancient annals declare. 
It must be confessed that this paganism was of 
the most robust type. 

Having failed in this quarter he then pro- 
ceeded to the Boyne. This is one of the most 
picturesque of rivers winding about among its 
wooded banksA Both sides of the river are now 
dotted with handsome and carefully-kept parks 
where ornamental trees and cows stand in 
pleasing and picturesque groups, while the 
smoothly-mown grass rolls like green velvet 
down to the water's edge. The water itself is 
limpid and clear as crystal, and in the deep 
pools the silvery salmon leap high into the air 
after heedless flies who come within reach. It 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 273 

looks very different from the days when Saint 
Patrick paddled up in his wicker and bull's-hide 
canoe. Probably the holy man himself would 
not recognize it ; nothing is the same except 
the salmon, the flies, the limpid, clear water. 

At Slane, a hill on the riverside about eight 
miles from its mouth, Saint Patrick built a bea- 
con-fire. He was in consequence of this im- 
mediately summoned to appear before King 
Laoghaire who held his court on the neighboring 
height of Tara to answer how he dared light a 
fire, when according to ancient custom as well 
as by royal mandate all fires were to be extin- 
guished. The interview between the Saint and 
the King ended if not in the latter's conversion 
at least in his tolerating the new comer, and 
eventually this occasioned the change in the 
religion of the whole tribe. 

Thus began the apostleship of Saint Patrick, 
who in the course of his long ministry traversed 
most parts of Ireland undeterred by the dread 
of starvation or the fear of murder. He bap- 



274 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

tized many thousands of the natives, planted 
churches in numerous places, founded schools 
and established monasteries. 

His most famous foundation is undoubtedly 
that of Armagh, the legend about which is pre- 
served in a celebrated old Irish manuscript 
known as the Book of Armagh. The Saint 
begged of a certain rich man some high land 
upon which to build him a church, but the rich 
man refused him the hill, offering in its stead a 
lower piece of ground near Ardd-Machae, and 
" there Saint Patrick dwelt with his followers." 

Upon all the churches which he founded Saint 
Patrick is said to have bestowed bells, several 
of which under distinctive names have become 
famous in history. One of these venerable 
relics, a small hand-bell made of two iron plates, 
something over seven inches high and three 
pounds ten ounces in weight, is known especially 
as the Bell of the Will of Saint Patrick. It is 
with this small rude object, not unlike the 
sheep-bell of to-day, that we have to deal. 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK S BELL. 275 

Sixty years after the death of Saint Patrick 
another Irish saint, Columkill, obtained this 
bell from the tomb of the former where it had 
ever since lain on the Saint's breast, and by 
Columkill it was bestowed on Armagh as a 
most precious relic. This bell is mentioned 
under the date 552 by the compiler of the 
Annals of Ulster. A poem of a later date, 
though still far back in the Dark Ages, speaks 
fondly of the bell, saying "there shall be red 
gold round its borders," and many shall be the 
kings who will treasure it, while woe is to be 
the portion of the person or house or tribe that 
hides it away. 

Armagh suffered much and frequently from 
fires, as was indeed natural in a village built 
entirely of wood as seems to have been the 
case during the first centuries of its existence. 
In 1020 it was burnt to the ground, all except 
the library alone. The steeple or round tower 
was burned with its bells. And again in 1074, 
on the Tuesday after May Day, it was burnt 



276 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

with all its churches and all its bells. But 
among these bells was not the Clog-Phadriug 
(the Bell of Saint Patrick). That was confided 
to the custody of a maer (keeper) whose honor 
and emolument depended upon the safety of 
the trust reposed in him. The keeper of the 
Bell was the head of the O'Maelchallans. The 
ancient poem already quoted refers thus to the 
elected keepers : 

" I command for the safe keeping of my bell 
Eight who shall be noble illustrious : 
A priest and a deacon among them, 
That my bell may not deteriorate." 

The Bell of Saint Patrick was regarded as 
more and more holy as the centuries rolled on, 
and by the middle of the eleventh century any 
profanation of its sanctity was visited with the 
severest penalties. Under the date 1044 there 
stands this emphatic entry in the Annals of 
Ulster : 

"A predatory expedition of Niull son of Maelsech- 
lainn, king of Ailech, against Ui-Meith and against 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 277 

Cuailgne in which he carried off twelve hundred cows 
and a multitude of captives in revenge for the violation 
of the Bell of the Will." 

Besides the extraordinary high price set upon 
the bell as evidenced by the number of cattle 
taken in revenge for the slight offered it, the 
record is interesting as showing the relative 
values of cows and men. It will be remarked 
that the horned cattle are carefully numbered 
as being precious, while the human cattle are 
roughly lumped together as a. "multitude." 
This raid was followed later on by another in 
which " cattle-spoil and prisoners " were carried 
off in revenge for another violation. 

During the episcopacy of Donell MacAulay 
who occupied the see of Armagh from 1091 to 
1 105, the sacred bell was inclosed in the gor- 
geous shrine which, though mutilated, still ex- 
cites our admiration and envy. An inscription 
runs around the shrine ; it has been managed 
with such skill that the letters seem to form an 
ornamentation rather than a break in the gen- 



278 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK^ LELL. 

eral design. The illustration which we offer 
our readers is that of the front of the shrine, 
showing also a portion of the side. The frame- 
work is of bronze fastened at the corners with 
copper fluting, and the gold and silver work is 
fixed to this foundation by means of rivets. The 
front is divided into thirty-one compartments, 
several of which have lost their ornamentations. 
A central decoration comprises an oval crystal 
while a little lower down appears another and a 
larger crystal. This latter object has been un- 
accountably introduced by some ignorant per- 
son, for it is manifestly out of place. It 
occurred to the present writer when inspecting 
the shrine last summer that it belonged to the 
center of a neighboring shrine with which its 
setting agrees, and where its shape would 
enable it to fit exactly. On the side, below the 
knot and ring by which it is suspended, there 
are eight of those quaint Irish serpents, whose 
elegant tails curve and infold each other so in- 
tricately that it is almost as difficult to make 




ST. PATRICKS BELL. 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 28 1 

out each particular snake as if they were in 
very truth alive and wriggling. Their eyes are 
of blue glass. The stones which still remain 
in their setting are of little or no value ; glass, 
crystal and amber appear to have been the only 
objects used. 

But the beauty of the gold tracery is beyond 
expression. The photograph but poorly repre- 
sents it, and the engraving falls still further 
below the original. It must be seen to be un- 
derstood, and as the shrine may be examined in 
its case at the Royal Irish Academy any day, 
we can only hope that no visitor will ever leave 
Dublin without seeing it, no matter what else 
he may leave unseen. 

We return now to the history of the shrine. 

The inscription according to the general 
usage of Irish inscriptions begs a prayer first 
for Domhnall O'Lachlainn, lord of Ailech (King 
of Ulster), secondly, for Domhnall the Bishop of 
Armagh, and thirdly for Chathalan O'Maelchal- 
lan the keeper of the shrine, and finally a 



282 THE CHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

prayer is also asked for Cudulig O'Inmauien 
the artificer who did the work. As long as the 
shrine lasts and as human beings possess a love 
of the beautiful the request of Cudulig will be 
answered in the admiration which all beholders 
will freely give to the work of his hands. 

Domhnall the King is famous in the Annals 
as being " the most distinguished of the Irish 
for personal form, family, sense, prowess, pros- 
perity and happiness, for bestowing of jewels 
and food upon the mighty and the needy." He 
died after a reign of twenty-seven years — a 
splendid personage evidently, and one who might 
have caused the beautiful shrine to be made. 

The O'Maelchallans appear to have kept 
their trust for generations ; but from some reason 
now undiscoverable in 1356 the Bell of Saint 
Patrick was kept by Solomon O'Mellan after 
whose death it again reverted to the former 
keepers. These enjoyed certain lands by right 
of their charge which were situate in the county 
of Tyrone near Stewartstown and were called 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 283 

Ballyelog, i. e., the town of the Bell. In 1365 
the O'Mulchallans were exempted from an inter- 
dict laid upon their diocese by the Primate, and 
this was done out of veneration for the sacred 
bell of which they were the custodians. Once 
more the bell migrated into the family of the 
O'Mellans and once again came back to the 
O'Mulchallans, whose name was undergoing a 
softening process, it will be observed. 

In 1455 the keepers having become powerful 
and wealthy began naturally to be arrogant. 
They usurped the "firstlings of flocks," and 
got into trouble with the Primate in consequence. 
And now there comes a great gap in the history 
of the bell. From 1466 to 1758 there are no 
annals in Ireland which deal with it. Perhaps 
the inhabitants were too busy with their newly- 
arrived English neighbors and all their advent 
entailed to remember the bell. It continued, 
however, during all those generations in the 
same family of keepers whose name had become 
further toned down and was now Mulhollan. 



284 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

In 1758 Bernard Mulhollan died and Edmond 
his son kept the bell in his stead. His son 
Henry was destined for the priesthood but be- 
came a schoolmaster instead. His school at 
Edenduffcarrick was attended by Adam Mac- 
Clean, a boy for whom he felt a great tenderness, 
and who returned his affection with gratitude. 
In the disastrous rebellion of 1798 Henry Mul- 
hollan became implicated, and when that rising 
was put down he would have suffered for his 
rashness had it not been for the interference of 
his former pupil now become a wealthy Belfast 
merchant. All through life Mr. MacClean 
showed kindness and gave assistance to his old 
schoolmaster. When the latter came to die he 
accordingly left to his benefactor what he held 
most precious in the world. We give Mr. Mac- 
Clean's own account of what Henry Mulhollan 
said to him on his death-bed : 

" My dear friend, you were an old and valued scholar 
of mine : on one occasion you were the means of saving my 
life, and on many subsequent occasions of providing for 



THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 285 

its comforts. I am now going to die. I have no child 
to whom I might leave the little I possess, nor have I any 
near of kin who might prefer any claim to it ; in either 
case the treasure I possess and which I hold dear as life 
should not have left the family of Mulholland, in which 
it has been for ages and generations handed down. But 
I am the last of my race and you are the best friend I 
have. I therefore give it to you, and when I am gone, 
dig in the garden at a certain spot, and you will find a box 
there: take it up and treasure its contents for my sake." 

Mr. MacClean dug in the place indicated and 
found an oak box within which lay the bell 
and its shrine and beside them a worn copy of 
Bedell's quarto Irish Bible. Mr. MacClean had 
the precious relic in his possession for a number 
of years, but unhappily he did not at first keep 
it under lock and key. The result was what 
might have been foretold by any one acquainted 
with the depredations committed by the enlight- 
ened vermin known as " relic-hunters." Price- 
less bits of gold tracery were stolen by the serv- 
ants and visitors until the cruelly denuded panels 
aroused Mr. MacClean to a sense of his danger. 
He then locked up the shrine. 



286 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL. 

Mr. MacClean willed the bell and its shrine 
to Dr. Todd, the great Irish authority on Saint 
Patrick, and* by him in turn it was bequeathed 
back to the nation at large, who leave it to the 
care of the Royal Irish Academy as its keepers. 

We have now traced the history of this bell 
back through the long vista of fourteen centuries. 
During most of that time it was venerated as a 
relic of great sanctity and the humanizing in- 
fluence of this feeling must have helped these 
poor benighted savages of Ireland whom Saint 
Patrick came to teach and save. The religious 
sanctity of the belf is gone, but its mission is 
not thereby ended. The worship of the beau- 
tiful has also its humanizing and elevating 
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